City Harvest could not be more delighted that Laura’s, and the whole team’s work has been recognized in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list. The awareness raised around poverty, surplus, and the multiple solutions food offers is incredibly positive. We will continue to call on London businesses and food companies to make larger strides towards a more sustainable London.
“At City Harvest our mission is to ensure that everyone has access to a nutritious meal and no one goes hungry. We have a simple solution to make this happen: connect unused, high quality food with those people in need. London is such a diverse city, with dynamic culture and many unique communities.
Since starting City Harvest, it’s been integral to be at the heart of London, identifying the abundance of nutritious surplus and the very local pockets of individuals struggling for a better life. Even before the current Covid pandemic there were rising levels of food poverty in London. We now see people who never thought they’d need emergency food provisions, seeking aid at the partners to which we deliver.
As part of the fabric of London, at the centre of the issue of ensuring access to food, we will nourish and improve the lives of tens of thousands of people in the very challenging months ahead. We doubled the number of meals delivered to the community overnight when Lockdown in London began, and the City Harvest team will work relentlessly to ensure that no man, woman or child in this city goes to bed hungry. I believe my personal mission is in line with that of our team – we feel deeply passionate about rescuing and directing all edible surplus food in London to people in need.
The enthusiasm of our team effects change in so many of our partners who now focus more on reducing waste and acting consciously. Whilst many food donation partners inherently care about the planet, they required City Harvest’s deep knowledge base to get the right food to the right people at the right time across the City. We provide a very easy way for donations to be made, allow food donation to be integrated into daily business with ease and ultimately we are a charity for all Londoners to use to nourish and improve the lives of those around them.”
Laura Winnigham OBE
