Food For Life Wales, a Cardiff food charity delivered almost 90,000 free meals during the lockdown.
Food For Life Wales has delivered 89,416 free meals for vulnerable people and frontline workers in Wales up to today. Their unity and effort award the Points of Light 2020 and received a letter from Boris Johnson praised for their extraordinary contribution during COVID-19.
The 20-year-old charity run by Cardiff’s local Hare Krishna temple delivered an average of 368 meals per day in last half year from 1st May to 1st December and kept an average of 113 meals delivered a day in the most recent week.
“Weirdly, the covid-19 pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for us,” said Erin Nash, a volunteer from Food for Life Wales with five years of experience.
“It’s obviously been a heart-straining and weird time for many, but it meant that people looked more towards helping their local community and lending a helping hand than ever before.”
“It was important to us that in such strange circumstances, we do something to help,” said Erin Nash. “Nutritious, plant-based food is one of the only ways we know how. So, although we had some activities going on before lockdown, in March we knew in our hearts we had to step up to the plate and increase our services to those most vulnerable.”
They had faced a significant drop in volunteer numbers due to reworking in June and July, according to Erin Nash. “However, we’re still able to carry on delivering meals, just on a reduced amount of days.
“The volunteer community we’ve established is so incredibly determined that even after returning to work, they still wished to assist the project.”
Although the government funding ended, they suggested a £1 per meal project to cover the whole program cost, to ensure the sustainability of their services.
They collect a symbolic £1 from recipients who can afford it and appeal for donations from society on their website to help the people who cannot pay for the meal.
“If someone is really in need and can’t afford the charge, they wouldn’t have to pay it,” said Erin. “We try to make sure everyone is treated equally, make sure to accommodate to everyone’s needs in whichever way we can.”
They also adjusted their delivery plan to the same amount of meals to people, but on fewer days in order to sustainable response to the pandemic and to balance volunteers’ work and life.
“As a charity, we’re most needed in times of crisis and uncertainty,” said Erin Nash. “This year has certainly provided a lot of opportunities for us to grow as an organisation and serve the community.”
Currently, they are also planning to provide Christmas dinners on Christmas Eve, to make it a bit more special for those of their recipients who might not get a chance to see their loved ones this year.
To help support their work, their volunteers are lobbying on the street, appealing for monthly donations, kind one-off donations and more potential volunteers.
“They say a crisis brings out the best in people, and that was certainly the case with our volunteers. We discovered talents and strengths amongst us that we never knew we had,” said Erin.