Support from the Company’s Charitable Trust enabled food education charity Chefs in Schools to scale up their festive hamper project, reaching families across the city in the lead up to Christmas.
During the week before Christmas, Chefs in Schools packed and delivered 1,435 Festive Hampers to children and families, working with schools to identify those most in need.
This project wouldn’t have been possible without the generous contributions from partners and funders. St Paul’s Church West Hackney very kindly gave use of their space free of charge which provided the perfect community space to pack hundreds of hampers each day. The hampers contained a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables along with essentials including bread, eggs, pasta and rice. To make the hampers extra special the charity were able to arrange donations of clementines from Natoora, granola from Rude Health and Sticky Toffee Puddings from Charlie Bighams.
A variety of publishers donated hundreds of children’s books ensuring that each child received several books to enjoy over Christmas. Mission Kitchen were also able to connect Chefs in Schools with local caterers to cook fresh meals for the hampers. They created a range of delicious meals including curries, soups, tagines and pasta sauces. This partnership had the mutual benefit of providing vital income for these caterers who had lost much of their business during the pandemic.
The delivery of these hampers wouldn’t have been possible without the team of enthusiastic volunteers, with many familiar faces from last year, who helped with lifting, packing, wrapping, loading and driving. They were integral to the successful delivery of the project.
“I don’t really know how to word this but I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for your hamper, just received this one and I’m in tears, we are beyond grateful for it and the present for my kids is such a lovely touch and so much appreciated, having never had to rely on free school meals before this crazy year, it’s been hard going from financially stable to struggling to feed the kids. So, I want to thank all of you so much, this honestly means the world and has completely left me overwhelmed.”
Parent who received a festive hamper
© The Fishmongers’ Company 2024
