‘Why should anyone be hungry when there’s food that can be given away?’ The heroes feeding their neighbours
‘W e’ve just had the king’s coronation and people are still going hungry. What’s that about?” Food charity founder Cocoa Fowler speaks with the passion of someone who daily bears witness to an increasing number of people struggling to feed themselves and their families.
Hunger is now widespread in the UK. Almost 10 million adults and 4 million children do not have enough to eat – nearly double what it was a year ago. More than 2 million adults cannot afford to eat every day. It has been called a “domestic humanitarian crisis”. Which is why Fowler and others like him have felt compelled to set up local food banks and community larders.
Deepa Chauhan , Burnt Oak community food bank
Deepa Chauhan’s day job used to be in marketing and PR, but now staving off hunger for the residents of Burnt Oak, a suburb in north-west London, has become a full-time occupation.
She had been involved in feeding homeless people for 13 years, but when Covid hit, the food run came to a halt. She started filling her car boot with provisions instead – “chocolate bars, crisps, drinks, just non-perishable items” – and offering them to charities.
“There was a lot of deprivation in Burnt Oak, an area that’s been overlooked for years and years,” she says, describing it as “a very diverse area full of beautiful souls who are just misunderstood, overlooked and unheard”.
She set up Burnt Oak community food bank (BOCFB) in March 2021, initially as an eight-week pilot scheme feeding approximately 25 people. “We delivered fresh produce, so it was yams, plantains, coriander – the type of things that our local, diverse community needs.” It has been running ever since.
In the beginning, Chauhan paid out of her own pocket, with the help of a few donors: now
Read more on theguardian.com
