Action Homeless Mark One Year Food Stop Anniversary

Today marks one year since Action Homeless took over Leicester’s Emergency Food Provision Network and the City Centre Food Stop.

Sadly, over the last year Action Homeless has seen more and more people become reliant on emergency food provision to get by. Over the last 12 months, we have:

  • Helped over 1300 individuals in food crisis
  • Provided customers with over 4500 days of food
  • Equivalent to an estimated 25 tons of food, or 480kgs a day
  • Given out an estimated £30,000 worth of food

These figures are from the Action Homeless Food Stop and do not include those from other food provision services in the city. Therefore, they only give a small insight into the scale of need in Leicester.

Community Support Manager Tim Adkin said, ‘We have been seeing record numbers access our Food Stop in the last year. Since Christmas numbers have been consistently high with people often queuing out the door at opening times. I am grateful for the dedication of our volunteers and to everyone that donates. Without the support of this community we would be unable to help these people.’

Action Homeless have also been responsible for the co-ordination of food banks across the city. This has involved regular meetings aimed at establishing stronger communication between food banks, helping to create a wider community that looks out for each other as we all support people facing crisis.

Action Homeless CEO Mark Grant said, ‘It has been a year of learning for the charity but we are glad we took up the challenge. A highlight of the year has been our Tackling Food Poverty event in February where we gathered with 25 different organisations from across the city to discuss our joint strategy for the year ahead. We were also fortunate to hear from Rosie Oglesby from Feeding Britain who encouraged and guided our work.’

Food Banks across Leicester are entirely reliant on volunteers and donations to keep running. As the figures above show, your help is more important if this vital lifeline is to be sustained.

To find out more about volunteering please contact James on 0116 2211851 or jamesriviere@actionhomeless.org.uk

Alternatively, click here to see our up to date donations wish list.