Sainsbury's Hackney Mare Street Local

At Hackney Community Food Share, our mission is to reduce food insecurity and improve the well-being of our local community by redistributing surplus food donations. We are deeply committed to addressing the growing challenges caused by the rising cost of living and increasing food prices. We identified the need for food support by working closely with local charities, community organisations, and residents who highlighted the struggles faced by many, particularly vulnerable individuals who cannot access traditional food banks. Through these conversations, we shaped our service to ensure it reaches those who need it most. Every Friday, we distribute surplus food donations from Alf Partridge Community Hall, with additional home deliveries throughout the week for vulnerable residents who are unable to collect food in person. Our partnerships with The Felix Project, Volunteer Centre Hackney, The Hygiene Bank Stoke Newington, Hackney Food Network, and the Alf Partridge Hall Tenants and Residents Association have been crucial in expanding our reach. These collaborations allow us to provide essential food and toiletries, ensuring people in need receive the right support. The backing of local councillors, along with Hackney Council’s community volunteering support and grants, has also been invaluable in sustaining our work. In addition to food support, we provide regular food parcels to Mapledene Road Retirement Home, a supported living scheme for over-60s in Hackney. We also host a weekly coffee morning, offering a warm, welcoming space where local people can enjoy a hot drink, a biscuit or pastry, and connect with others. This initiative helps combat isolation, encourages community engagement, and provides signposting to local services. Over time, it has also inspired more local people to volunteer and actively contribute to their community. HCFS is a Neurodivergent-led group, and we understand firsthand the importance of the right support—especially for Neurodivergent parents raising children with additional needs. While our current focus is food distribution, our long-term vision is to develop a peer support network for Neurodivergent parents, creating a space where we can share experiences, offer advice, and support each other in a way that truly meets our needs. We believe in fostering greater acceptance and awareness of Neurodiversity and Neurodivergence in both the community and volunteering spaces. Our services are entirely free of charge, relying solely on donations and community support to continue operating. HCFS is more than just a food share—we are a community working together to create meaningful support networks and connections.

Since 2010 our Storehouse food bank has served over 50,000 free meals to local people in Hackney needing food support. This includes the homeless, working people on low income, the unemployed, people with disabilities and long-term health conditions (including mental health, autistic spectrum, learning disabilities) families, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, veterens, ex-prisoners, older people, the marginalised , lonely isolated, and struggling with substance misuse. The food we provide comes through donations from three Tesco stores, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi and cooked food from three local Caribbean restaurants. There are three main volunteering roles 1: Kitchen: Volunteers will be packing the cooked food from the Caribbean restaurants (curry goat, jerk chicken, rice and peas etc) into individual takeaway containers. There will also be general cleaning and washing up. 2: Food and clothing bank: Volunteers will be setting up tables in the hall to display ambient and fresh food donations which range from milk, tinned food, fruit and Vegetables, cereals, the Caribbean food, toiletries etc, and clothing Your role would also involve portioning and repackaging food into food bags and serving our service users. There are also food parcels to be put together and delivered to older people on foot who live nearby. Volunteers may also prepare and serve refreshments (hot and cold drinks, biscuits and cakes). There will also be general cleaning and moving tables so that the hall is ready for other groups to use. Kitchen and Food Bank Volunteers will need to arrive for 10.30am and stay until 12.30pm Sundays only. 3: Volunteer Drivers: needed for pick up slots between 08.00 to 11:00 on Sundays to collect food donations from different supermarket stores and Caribbean restaurants located in Hackney and Bethnal Green. We will provide verification for drivers to show staff when making food collections. Volunteers will have access to go in the stores to collect the food even when the stores are closed to the public. The volunteer drivers will know by Saturday evening where they will be going to collect the food for the Sunday morning. Once the food is collected it will then be brought to the hall to be sorted and the driver stay to give out the food to our service users. Storehouse welcomes corporate and other groups wishing to volunteer as a one-off or on a regular basis. Storehouse also offers volunteering opportunities to young people aged 14-24 including those completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award. This volunteering role requires a good command of English. The benefits of volunteering are that you will enhance your sense of self-worth. It can also be added to your CV to improve your employment prospects. After 3 months of continuous volunteering Storehouse can provide references for you. Volunteers are welcome to refreshments while they are volunteering and can access food/clothing bank items at the discretion of the management.

Sleep Warm UK is a charity tackling two critical issues: food insecurity and homelessness across the UK. We coordinate the redistribution of surplus food from major retailers to food banks, having saved 160,000 meals across London during the cost of living crisis. Additionally, we run sleeping bag distribution campaigns for rough sleepers, including the largest sleeping bag outreach in British history which distributed 385 sleeping bags since December 2024. Our aim isn't to encourage or endorse rough sleeping, but to make the streets survivable during the winter season. To date, we have provided 1,119 sleeping bags to homeless individuals across eight UK cities.