Words by Smiley Team
Giving disadvantaged families the summer holiday they deserve, The Felix Kitchen is a newly-opened food distribution initiative in Poplar, east London. Its staff will use surplus food to prepare nutritious meals that volunteers will deliver to charities across Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham.
The organisations receiving food serve families in need, elderly and isolated people, as well as those without the money or facilities to cook. The kitchen will launch at the start of the summer holidays, perfectly timed to help the three million children at risk of going hungry in this period.
“The school holidays are a crucial time for families and we expect need will only increase in the autumn when potential benefit cuts come into play and furlough ends,” says Rachel Ledwith MBE, of Felix’s Kitchen.
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It's the first food distribution initiative to operate on this scale in London – and a direct answer to the increased need the charity is seeing due to the pandemic. At full capacity, the centre can produce 6,000 meals a day and the charity aims to produce 100,000 meals to feed local families and children across the summer holidays this year.
To help make the holidays as special as possible for children, the team at the Felix Kitchen are putting their utmost into its menu. The kitchen’s head, Leon Aarts, is a top chef and humanitarian who worked in fine dining for many years before dropping everything to travel to Calais and cook for the refugees.
Since then, Leon’s passion for feeding those in need has only grown. “From children who go without a decent meal every day or others who have to choose between paying rent or buying food, no one should go hungry and together we can achieve that," he says.
At Felix’s Kitchen, Leon plans to use whatever surplus food they receive to make culturally-sensitive, appetising meals that are high in nutrients and delicious for people of all backgrounds. A team of 12 professionals will cook the food, while up to 50 volunteers will help each day to distribute them.
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The kitchen is part of a wider organisation, The Felix Project, set up in 2016 in memory of founder Justin Byam Shaw’s son, Felix, who died of meningitis. Justin decided to create a food charity for his son, recalling how upset he had been when playing in a school football match and learning that the 10-year-old players on the other team hadn’t had anything to eat that day.
In order to deliver meals efficiently, Felix’s Kitchen is recruiting volunteers. If you wish to donate your time to the project, visit thefelixproject.org to get involved.
To support the project you can also donate via their website here.
