Love North Southwark

Love North Southwark is a pantry in Bermondsey, serving hundreds of people each week with subsidised food and household items.

Kathy Heather was volunteering with the elderly in her community when the pandemic hit. She heard about a company called Fooditude who had to close down their events and had surplus food. That is where everything began – Fooditude cooked the meals and Kathy and a group of volunteers distributed it. Initially, they provided ready meals to elderly people. Kathy explains: “We started in April doing about 200 meals a week, by July we were doing 2,000 a week, it escalated!”

When things started to normalise and Fooditude went back to their usual events Kathy reached out to The Felix Project to see if they could continue to provide food parcels to vulnerable older people. Love North Southwark initially used Felix food to provide around 200-250 food parcels each week, but as they saw an expanding need in their community, they decided to set up a pantry. Kathy  explains: “I went to Peckham Pantry, to have a look around and be nosey. At that time we were getting more and more families that needed our help, rather than the elderly, they was being furloughed or had lost a loved one or lost a job, so they needed our help, we looked at the pantry idea and could see it was effective.”

The pantry is now open 5 days a week, people do not need a referral, Kathy says they simply need £5 and a large shopping bag. Each week the pantry receives around 250kg of fruit and veg, meat and cupboard essentials from The Felix Project’s South London depot in Deptford. The pantry then buys in items such as household cleaning goods and other essentials. Kathy believes receiving surplus from The Felix Project saves her up to £300 each week, she explains: “What we get from Felix is great, it means we can give people fresh food. We do still buy quite a bit, we make sure we have everything for people but it’s getting more and more expensive. I really need Felix – they save me so much. I basically couldn’t do what I do without them and that’s the truth.”

The way in which The Felix Project operates, by notifying Kathy in advance about what she will be receiving, helps Kathy be more organised and strategic in what she buys. This means she can offer her customers a wider choice, she explains: “The pantry gives people a bit more dignity, they are coming in and they are buying, they are paying for something and taking only what they need.”

Kathy continues: “My customers are so happy with the quality of what we get from Felix. I had one new customer come in and she said: ‘is this all out of date then?’ I said no have a look around, check what we have, check the dates and you will see things have a good life span.”

Kathy believes the pantry saves people at least £20 per week. They work on an appointment system and serve a wide variety of customers. Kathy thinks there has been a change in the type of customers: “We definitely have more employed people, more part time workers. Some struggle to get here, we have those that work Monday to Friday 9-5 but they still can’t make ends meet, a lot of them are carers, looking after people or working for the NHS. We have retired people, single men that are widowed or bachelors, and single parent families, who don’t get a lot with Universal Credit.”

Kathy adds: “The young mums love the service we provide, many think buying fruit and vegetables is too expensive and so getting it here is good as it means they can give their kids a healthier diet, they say ‘oh my little boy loved that’.”

She added: “Some veg we get from Felix we don’t know what it is, but our customers come in and tell us what it is and how to cook it.  One example is celeriac, oh my days we have had some laughs with that!”

Kathy is very grateful to The Felix Project for their support and all that they do, but she is concerned about how they will keep up with the need. “I am seeing more and more people, and I think it will stay high until we sort this cost of living crisis out. It’s crucial I am here and The Felix Project helps me – otherwise I don’t know how people would cope.”