Celebrating the first anniversary of the Coronation Food Project

We were delighted to join His Majesty The King in South London today to celebrate two birthdays: His Majesty’s, and the first year of the Coronation Food Project

At the event, hosted by our partner The Felix Project, His Majesty spoke to charities who have benefitted from the Coronation Food Project, including those supported by the grants programme, managed by King Charles III Charitable Fund (KCCF). This has so far distributed £715,000 to 33 organisations working to reduce food waste and food insecurity.

Nikki Jeffery, Executive Director of KCCF said:

It has been a wonderful day celebrating the remarkable achievements of the Coronation Food Project alongside our charity partners. The event had a great energy, reflecting the hard work of so many people united by a shared commitment to repurpose surplus food for social good. It was so inspiring to see such passion and collaboration in action.

UKHarvest is one of the charities who received a Coronation Food Project grant to launch their Grub Club initiative – where 10 primary schools with high levels of pupil premium in West Sussex receive food through UKHarvest’s surplus food collections, feeding 40 families per school.

Yvonne Thomson, CEO of UKHarvest, said:

“Grub Club has been an incredibly impactful and successful project. Last term, UKHarvest were able to distribute over 12 tonnes of rescued surplus food to our schools, the equivalent of more than 28,000 meals. Without the Coronation Food Project funding we would not have been able to facilitate the work we’re doing with local school communities through food and education. UKHarvest’s regular food donations to 10 primary schools in and around Chichester is raising awareness of the social and environmental impact that food waste is having, and how each household can make a difference.”

Representatives from East Belfast Mission also joined us to celebrate. A Coronation Food Project grant is supporting East Belfast Mission’s food poverty projects, including a daily community fridge. The Mission is based in an area where over 40% of working age people are economically inactive and struggle to access opportunities. More than 230 people come each week to collect high quality fresh surplus produce provided by a range of supermarkets which would otherwise go to waste.

The community fridge works in tandem with two community pantries in the area and provides fresh food which complements the more traditional community pantry offering of store cupboard essentials. Thanks to our support, the Mission has been able to expand its capacity by building a large walk-in fridge, which will enable it to rescue more surplus food and keep it fresh for longer.

Working to support refugee communities, a Coronation Food Project grant is helping Local Welcome to use food to bring people together. Facilitated by local volunteer leaders, Local Welcome meals guide participants through simple recipes utilising surplus food, along with a set of questions designed to encourage conversation and build connections and confidence. Since March 2024, Local Welcome has delivered more than 700 meals at 38 events across the UK. 83% of attendees feel more confident after attending a group, and 90% of those who want to improve their English succeed in doing so.

Also being supported is TheCountry Food Trust who provide high-protein nutritious meals to people in need. The Trust accesses raw meat (largely game meat such as venison and pheasant) given by estates, farmers and gamekeepers.  They create ambient meals including wild venison bolognese which are then donated to the local area from where the meat originated. They also donate raw meat to community kitchens that can cook onsite. Since 2015, they have distributed nearly 6 million meals to more than 1,500 charities nationwide, including Burngreave Foodbank, who said:

“Thank you for the delivery of the Free-Range Pheasant Curry; it looks delicious. We’ve seen record numbers coming to us in the last few months. This donation will be such a huge help to us.”