Supporting local people with food
Would you like to help a neighbour experiencing difficulty in these very challenging times?
Below are three great local food initiatives which support neighbours in the Queens Park, Kensal & Brondesbury areas without any form-filling, 'referral' process.
GIFT YOUR NEIGHBOUR
Monday - food delivered to families & households
Volunteers deliver donated food, topped up with fruit and veg, to allow households within a mile of Queens Park to cook a healthy meal.
Home pick-up of donations or financially donate with Gift Aid at bit.ly/GiftYourNeighbour. Request support at bit.ly/Giftmeal.
GRANVILLE COMMUNITY KITCHEN
Weds & Friday - food delivered to families & households
Volunteers provide donated food & toiletries across Carlton Vale, Queens Park, Kensal and beyond. The team have also just introduced their Good Food Box scheme.
LAURENCE'S LARDER
Thurs - food available on a 'walk-up' basis (no appointment)
Has provided a warm welcome, including hot food and showers/clothes for several years. Currently because of Covid is offering walk-up food for takeway on Thursdays (10-1pm).
Drop-off donations or financially donate with Gift Aid at www.laurenceslarder.org.uk
Working as a team
These three initiatives employ no staff, ensuring all donations go directly to making food available.
We work together and share your food donations to ensure anyone who needs food can access it on Monday, Weds, Thurs and Friday every week.
We are also happy to onward deliver to a foodbank 'voucher' service such as Sufra NW London, Brent Foodbank or North Paddington.
If you require emergency food support:
REFERRAL
Brent Council made emergency food parcels available during lockdown via 020 8937 6792. However, there is now a much stricter eligibility process.
If you prefer, you can contact Sufra NW London (see below), the foodbank group designated by the Council to lead on emergency food provision. Your details will be treated confidentially and not shared with the Council if you prefer.
You can also contact Trussell Trust (Brent) Foodbank or North Paddington Foodbank (see both below) via a referral agency.
NO QUESTIONS-ASKED
You can also receive delivered free food from a wider local network, that includes community organisations such as The Granville Community Kitchen (Weds & Fri), Rumis Cave, Harlesden ('New Horizons') Foodbank (Fridays) or Salvation Army (Tues & Thurs) in Harlesden and "Gift Your Neighbour" in Queens Park, Brondesbury and Kensal Green (Mondays, see below).
You can also contact your local 'mutual aid' group (contact kensalqueenspark@gmail.com if you don't know yours already).
This network of neighbours can also help with shopping, access a small amount of free food or help with an application for food from a Foodbank or the Council.
OFFERING HELP
VOLUNTEERING OR DONATING OPTIONS
Sufra NW London (Stonebridge, serves Brent-wide)
Sufra NW London is Brent's designated Foodbank lead for Covid. You can fill out their volunteer form here: bit.ly/helpSUFRA
To donate to Sufra's latest appeal fund (supporting people Brent-wide), please click here.
Food donations can be dropped off 9.30-5.30pm (Fridays until 8pm) at the Edible Garden - non-perishable list below.
020 3441 1335 admin@sufra-nwlondon.org.uk
Sufra NW London
160 Pitfield Way
Stonebridge
NW10 OPW
Brent Foodbank (Harlesden)
Donations can still be accepted at the Lexi Cinema on Tuesday/Weds, 11-2pm.
Donating food? Please bring donations to our Neasden centre, Tue Thu & Fri 9-5, or Mon & Wed by arrangement. We need UHT milk & juice, tinned tomatoes and pasta/curry sauce, bar soap and hand soap. More info at https://brent.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-food/. Thank you!
Donating money? https://brent.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-money/ or you can post a cheque to Neasden centre as below. Thank you very much for your support!
Volunteering? email us your contact details, availability and area of interest. We are fast tracking our application process and will get back to you as quickly as we can.
Need the foodbank? See our opening hours and locations below. Please bring a voucher from a referral or support agency such as your job centre or social services. For more info see https://brent.foodbank.org.uk/get-help/how-to-get-help/.
info@brent.foodbank.org.uk t: 0203 7455 972
The Vestry Hall
21 Neasden Lane
Willesden
NW10 2TS
North Paddington Foodbank (Elgin Ave)
James Quayle, who runs the Foodbank, says "We basically need everything, including patience for volunteers as we are still building our capacity to respond to the issues, so we may not be able to mobilise all interested volunteers straight away.
Donations can come to our address anytime during the day, we essentially need everything at the moment . A list is on our website
For volunteers, see our pinned tweet @npfoodbank, there's a spreadsheet link http://buff.ly/2QhTgOU and a WhatsApp group link (contact us to be added). This will all be scaled up in time
In relation to people in need referred to us by mutual aid groups, if someone is identified as needing food and unable to afford it then pass them onto us.
Donations accepted at Sainsburys (Canal Way, Ladbroke Grove), (Paddington Station), (Sheldon Square), Waitrose (Porchester Rd).
We can offer collection and home delivery"
0207 266 3347
North Paddington Food Bank
Selbourne House
36a Elgin Ave
W9 3AZ
02
We help address both the causes and consequences of extreme poverty, homelessness & social isolation across Brent. With your support, we can ensure no-one in our community goes hungry.
Other local options
There are many organisations who usually operate walk-in 'foodbank' services in the NW10/NW6/NW2 area some of them also members of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) and/or Brent Food Aid Network (BFAN).
The below are open and are non-referral services that do not require vouchers or prior appointment.
St Laurence's Larder's popular open kitchen in Brondesbury had to shut its popular Tuesday and Thursday welcomes but aims to reopen Thursdays from Septeber 17th for walk-up/takeaway food bags.
Ashford Place in Cricklewood is currently open only to its homeless guests.
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GRANVILLE COMMUNITY KITCHEN (Carlton Vale)
The popular Granville Community Kitchen in South Kilburn is open on Wednesdays and Fridays and has been serving hot food for takeaway.
Contact Leslie (07952 616 352); granvillecommunitykitchen@gmail.com; @GranComKit.
RUMI'S KITCHEN
Rumi's operates food kitchens in Harlesden and Willesden and during Covid lock-down has been looking for volunteers. Volunteers assist those in need with shopping and collecting groceries and they run a befriending scheme to check on residents' well-being and make phone calls.
You can receive food by filling in this online form.
The team accept food donations Monday-Friday from 9am-12pm if you email kitchen@rumis.org to confirm a delivery slot
Harlesden Fresh Foodbank on the High St hosted by Fresh Horizons CB in Harlesden are open on Friday.
Sacred Heart Church Parish House (at back of the church) Quex Rd, Kilburn, NW6 4PS Open: Everyday, 10 -4pm No tokens or referrals necessary
WILLESDEN MUTUAL AID FOODBANK
Local mutual aid groups teamed up during lockdown with Cllr Tariq Ali and the Pakistan Cultural Centre to create the Willesden Mutual Aid Foodbank, distributing around 9,000 meals. However, the foodbank has now closed to become a distribution hub for Sufra NW.
'GIFT YOUR NEIGHBOUR' - FOOD INITIATIVE IN QUEENS PARK AREA
Salusbury World, the local refugee charity, teamed up with the Maqam Centre, William IV, residents associations, mutual aid groups and local businesses to form a food initiative supported by three hubs (Queens Park, Brondesbury and Kensal), serving around 60 homes twice a week to local schools, community groups and people that ask via www.bit.ly/Giftmeal
"Gift Your Neighbour" supports the other food initiatives in the area by collecting food donations on their behalf. For more information on this please click here. "Gift Your Neighbour" has raised over £9,000 thanks to the generosity of neighbours.
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Meanwhile, the absolutely incredible Daksha and her husband of the Community Response Kitchen have been making over 209,000 meals in the past five months, initially for NHS key workers and more recently exclusively for vulnerable people across Brent, including Kensal Green, Dudden Hill, Queens Park, Brondesbury, Willesden Green and Harlesden using her volunteer drivers and the mutual aid network.
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THE AVENUES YOUTH PROJECT - FOOD KITCHEN
The brilliant Avenues Youth Project turned into a food production facility for 200 of the hardest hit on Queen’s Park Estate during lockdown working with North Paddington Foodbank, Westminster Council, Queens Park Community Council, Schools, Queens Park Family Hub to identify need.
Queens Park Community & Sports Hub (QPG)
The QPG teamed up during lockdown with Ida Restaurant, Sea Shells Fish & Chips Restaurant, Community Response Kitchen and the Felix Project to offer meals to the 'shielded' and elderly around the Kilburn Lane and Avenues area.
HELPING US LOCALLY - AND ACROSS LONDON
Brilliant organisations that help supply all the above include The Felix Project, and City Harvest and Fareshare (the UK's national network of charitable food redistributors, made up of 17 independent organisations) who rescue food from the food industry and deliver across London to charities and schools.
The London Mayor is also raising funds for its Kitchen Social programme.
Part of the Felix team is in Park Royal. To volunteer or donate please click here.
To follow on social media: @felixprojectuk
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TYPICAL DESIRABLE FOOD ITEMS FOR A FOODBANK
Dried pasta
Rice
Long-life milk
Oil 1ltr
Sugar
Biscuits
Noodle/ready meals
Tinned veg
Tuna/other canned fish
Chickpeas
Kidney beans
Tinned Tomatoes
Pasta sauce
Nappies
Baby milk
Toilet roll
