Love Your Neighbour Food depot was launched in response to the food crisis caused by Covid-19. It began on 18th May after receiving initial funding of £10,000 from the Church Revitalisation Trust.
Rev Jennie Hardy at St James in the City spoke to us about the service:
“Our aim is to get food to some of the most vulnerable people who may have already been struggling to afford food before Covid-19 hit and also those whose circumstances have changed and they are now struggling. We have been providing food and helping with deliveries of food parcels for Migrant women who may be refugees or asylum seekers, from 4Wings, vulnerable women who are homeless and struggling with a range of issues from the Pearls project, families from Archbishop Blanch and St Hilda’s schools, the Methodist Youth Centre who support families in and around the L8 area with food and education packs, New Horizons at All Saints in Kensington, Micah Liverpool, The Jericho project that support and sign posts rough sleepers and homeless people and now also The Florrie Community Centre in Dingle.
We are so grateful to be working with these great organisations that are supporting the most vulnerable in their communities. St James in the City is a City Centre Resource Church and we are so happy that we have been able to access funding and food in Order to get food out to where it’s needed.
We were successful in a further DEFRA grant application from the government which means we have enough money to continue to distribute food until Mid-August. We are trying to access more funding, particularly since the Salvation Army have released figures suggesting that the food crisis caused by Covid will be on-going for at least 24 months.
Love your Neighbour at St James in the City has only been able to begin and continue thanks To the amazing team of volunteers who come from far and wide twice a week to sort, pack and deliver food. The team is led by volunteers from St James in the City who have been fantastic keeping things running smoothly week in week out! We are now delivering over 6000 meals a week which is amazing and we always send out some ‘Our Daily Bread’ or ‘Word for Today’ booklets With our parcels which we hope people will read and be blessed by the truth of God’s Word as well as with the food.
Because we can only spend the DEFRA grant on food we have had to stop adding sanitary items to our parcels. Without accessing further funding we will not be able to continue this important work past August. If anyone would like to make a contribution to help us continue it can be done through our GoFundMe page.”
Rev Canon Ellen Loudon, said:
“Micah Liverpool has been providing emergency food aid to people in need in the city for many years now. We have been offering support to around 300-350 a week during the COVID-19 lockdown and have been able to continue to offer face-to-face support at both of our usual locations throughout the crisis.
The food packages that Love Your Neighbour at St James In the City have been taking into schools and other community groups are a welcome addition to the support churches are able to give to families not just in the city but in the wider community. We share the same concern for those in most need and have the same purpose to be God’s hands and feet - serving and sharing. It’s been great to work in partnership and share in this important gospel work together.”
Go Fund Me
To help support the service please consider donating on their Go Fund Me page here.