Courtyard Pantry Business
Courtyard Pantry is a food project providing quality food at a low cost to the community in Glasgow. Founded in 2021 to combat food insecurity during the pandemic, membership in the pantry is open to anyone, regardless of circumstances. It costs £1 to join and membership lasts for as long as needed. In 2023, Toshie’s Cafe was founded as the next phase of The Courtyard Pantry Enterprise, with the aim of providing affordable meals and snacks to those who are particularly isolated or disadvantaged. The cafe also offers volunteering, training and work experience opportunities for people who face barriers to employment in the local community.
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Pauline Town
Pauline Town runs the We Shall Overcome (WSO) project from inside the Station Hotel Pub in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester. This is a solidarity movement supporting people experiencing homelessness or in need of assistance, especially those affected by the cost of living crisis. Town hosts live music to raise money and also leads a team of volunteers who prepare around 120 packed lunches each day. Each week it provides food parcels to pensioners who cannot go to their local shops. The town refers those in need to other local groups or organizations to provide temporary accommodation, provides support in finding permanent accommodation and has also inspired the Town House, renovated by the local council and named after him, to provide 20 beds for short-term needs.
Incredibly Edible: The Right to Grow
Incredible Edible, a network of more than 150 social growth groups that launched in 2008, has spent recent years campaigning for the ‘Right to Grow’ bill. This will allow people to grow their own food on unused land such as roadsides and barren lawns. In October 2023, Hull became the first city in the UK to allow people to grow their own food. IE is now drafting a bill calling for its adoption at the national level. The group has also begun hosting a Right to Grow network where people can work together to push for this legislation nationwide.
Fritwell Community Fridge collects unsold, excess or waste food from supermarkets and distributors, as well as donations. The food is available to all residents in the North Oxfordshire Three Parishes area, and each year the service offers extra support in the form of Christmas gifts and hampers to vulnerable families at the local school. They support 25 households a week with food parcels and more than 75 households receive the fridge each week. Nominators wrote: “Kerry Mellor and Jenny who started this are an honor to the community they serve.”
Alexandra Rose Charity
Since 2014, the Alexandra Rose Charity has been tackling the dual problems of food poverty and nutrition-related diseases by providing fruit and vegetable vouchers to pregnant mothers and those with children under four. The vouchers are used at local markets (below) and the charity says 64% of children from families receiving the Rose Voucher now eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day; that’s just over 7%.
Tessa Clarke
Tessa Clarke He founded OLIO, a free app that connects users with unwanted food from homes or local businesses to neighbors who live nearby and want it. It now has more than seven million users who have shared more than 150 million servings of food. A team of nearly 104,000 volunteers worldwide collects unused food from supermarkets and homes, saving 22 billion liters of water and preventing 171,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. OLIO also produces content that encourages users to save money and be more climate conscious.
Resurrected Bites
In Harrogate, Resurrected Bites redistributes food that would otherwise go to waste to people in need. This nonprofit organization has pay-what-you-can cafes and grocery stores where people can choose from a wide variety of fresh, frozen and in-cupboard items for a tiny amount. They show other services that can help and also lend an ear. Nominators wrote: “Harrogate is seen as an affluent town but there are many people living in food poverty. Without Resurrected Bites’ help, hundreds of people in the region would have gone hungry. Our customers who used the service felt the impact of being able to shop fairly and healthily while maintaining their independence.”
Sabrina Khan
Khan is the founder of Maasi’s, a cafe and restaurant staffed by women of color, all of whom are home cooks who have never held paid employment before. The space Maasi provided for these women “allowed them to develop themselves, build their self-confidence and empower them.” “Sabrina was not a chef and had no business experience, but she persevered and found success in the business,” the nominator wrote. “Women of color face many barriers to employment from within and outside their culture, and Sabrina has given these women a platform they never had before.” .He is inspiring.”
Our Forgotten Neighbors
For those suffering from insomnia, mental health issues, low-income or refugees, Our Forgotten Neighbors is a lifeline in London. They offer a street kitchen and food bank in Finsbury Park with a DJ every Friday. It is run by husband and wife team Victoria and Vincent Barnett, who take donations from supermarkets such as M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury’s and organize fundraising events. Since August 2020, they have provided more than 25,000 meals. In an interview with the Big Issue, Vincent told us: “There are people sleeping on the street outside our front door. They are our neighbors too. We cannot forget these. “We must unite and help these people,” he said.
This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalized people the opportunity to earn an income.
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