Scheme set up to tackle food poverty

Many older residents over the age of 70 are going without meals; they are afraid to leave their homes due to government isolation advice and having to stand in long social-distancing queues can be a real challenge for the elderly.

Families are also struggling, especially those with younger children but single parents are particularly vulnerable. With schools closed many are unable to work and without childcare, essential food shopping has become a minefield as supermarkets turn them away if they bring their children with them.

Darren Snow MBE has set up the ‘East Brighton COVID-19 Support Fund’ to support East Brighton’s Whitehawk, Manor Farm and Bristol Estates.

Darren is co-founder of The Crew Club based in Whitehawk which is one of the 10 per cent most deprived communities in the UK. The Club offers a huge and diverse number of free services and activities for all age groups; these include After School Fun and Homework/Tutor Clubs, Healthy Cooking sessions, Cricket, Football and Boxing, babies and mums support groups plus Coffee Mornings for the over 55s. The Club also offers healthy snacks and hot meals with food from FareShare.

When Covid-19 lockdown occurred back in March, the Crew Club was forced to close its doors, leaving a massive gap in the local offering. Darren Snow realised that something had to be done to help an already struggling community and had a conversation with local resident Bryan Coyle. Darren and Bryan first met in a NESTA funded Social Movement in Health initiative where a small group of local people came together to support the health inequalities in their community. They decided to set up an emergency service to provide much needed food and support to their local community.

Darren said: “Working with Bryan is an honour. He is driven through pure passion to support those in need, an attribute that fits very well with me and the Crew Club’s principles.

Having this fund has helped us to help so many at this time of need, not just with food but also by giving out over 100 arts and crafts packs for children at home often without any outside

space. We also delivered 300 Easter Eggs to local families which put a smile on children’s faces. This is community engagement at its best."

Darren formed the ‘East Brighton Covid-19 Support Fund’ and began fundraising. The Crew Club managed to raise over £10,000 with many donations coming from individuals and the larger donations from East Brighton Trust and NESTA which provided the main source of funding for the ‘East Brighton Food Co-Operative’ set up by Bryan. These funds directly help the most vulnerable, those most at risk of not getting food supplies or day-to-day essentials in order to stay safe and healthy.

Bryan said: “The East Brighton Food Co-op was set up to highlight the lack of access to healthy food in this part of the city and the effect this has on the health inequality people face here. When this is all over we will be working and campaigning harder than ever to bring community food making, celebration and eating to our local area. We will work to put in place the infrastructure needed to make sure the people who live here can enjoy cooking and eating healthy food."

The funds helped them set up a kitchen in early March at the Bristol Estate Community Room but there was such high demand they went on to create a second kitchen in the Robert Lodge Community Room in Whitehawk . Both kitchens now provide fresh, nutritious hot daily meals, delivered safely to the most vulnerable by an incredible group of local volunteers.

In the Robert Lodge kitchen alone, around 100 hot meals are made each day, seven days a week, by a dedicated team headed up by Chef Jason Hanmer-Delve who is originally from Whitehawk.

The orders are placed on an ordering line run by local councillor Gill Williams. The project also delivers food parcels of vital shopping to those most isolated, like Pat and Ken, both of whom are over the age of 80 and self-isolating. They said: ‘We are truly lost for words, we have never had so much kindness, they are true heroes”. Many single mums also receive food parcels (90 per cent of single parents are women) and they are clearly in huge distress and so grateful to have this support.

Freshly prepared hot meals are currently running at 1000 per week and this is predicted to increase further.

If you would like to pledge your support please make a donation to this project here: www.crewclub.co.uk/covid-19

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