By our Strategic Partner, Mayor’s Fund for London
This International Volunteer Day, we’re shining a spotlight on the incredible volunteers who help deliver our Food and Communities work across London. Their dedication and energy ensure that young Londoners facing the biggest barriers across the capital can not only survive but thrive.
Providing food and skills with Kitchen Social
As the largest provider of holiday food and activities in the capital, our Kitchen Social programme supports 100 hubs across 30 London boroughs. These hubs tackle holiday food insecurity and social isolation while promoting physical and mental wellbeing. Each hub offers access to healthy, nutritious food alongside promoting physical and mental wellbeing, opportunities to learn key life skills, and the strengthening of vibrant communities. With 13 weeks away from school each year, we’re the bridge between term times that keeps young Londoners growing.
A partnership making a difference
The Berkeley Foundation, which first started supporting Mayor’s Fund for London in 2013, has been a constant partner of Kitchen Social, committing over £1.5 million in funding to help us reach even more communities. This has been fundamental in expanding our network into ‘cold spot’ areas, where communities were previously under-resourced. Today, their contributions support 25 community hubs across 13 London boroughs, providing an additional 48,467 holiday time meals since October 2022. In addition, funding is also supporting research and development of the HAF Plus programme for older young people, aged 11-16.
Since December 2022, 34 Berkeley staff members have given up their time to volunteer with Kitchen Social. From helping out at sports days and cooking in the kitchen at community family events, to lending a hand at Christmas activities and even helping the maintenance of hubs with painting and decorating. Through our partner volunteers we’re able to provide further support to hubs that need it most, strengthening their capacity to deliver the vital services to young people across the capital.
John Jones, MFL’s Community Partners Manager, spoke about the success of volunteers supporting our Kitchen Social programme:
“The importance of committed and skilled volunteers through our partnership with the Berkeley Foundation cannot be downplayed. 81% of our Kitchen Social hubs are facing a decline in funding, while 68% are seeing an increased demand for their services. Further to this, a third are having challenges recruiting staff.
Whilst we cannot ignore the need for urgent investment, good quality volunteers strengthen capacity and resilience of Kitchen Social hubs. Volunteering also ensures businesses and communities build stronger connections and understanding of how they can mutually support each other – this contributes directly to a more socially cohesive and better London for all.”
Building community connections
The Foundation’s new Chair of Trustees, Piers Clanford, and Head of Foundation Sally Dickinson recently visited CARAS in Wandsworth, South London, which supports 600 refugees and asylum seekers each year. As well as being part of the Kitchen Social programme, CARAS has recently been awarded a grant through the Berkeley Foundation’s Resilience Fund. The visit highlighted the power of partnerships and the impact of initiatives like Kitchen Social in creating connections and opportunities.
Piers commented:
“It was great to be able to see first-hand the impact of a programme like Kitchen Social. For these young people arriving to a new country, it’s providing an important opportunity to start building social connections and community, as well as learning a new language and other skills that will be critical for starting school in the UK.
“I’m really proud to be supporting the Mayor’s Fund for London and CARAS through Kitchen Social. We’ve seen today that food can be a powerful way to bring people together.”
Berkeley volunteer Ophelie Bile, who supported the Redmond Community Centre in Hackney, shared her experience:
“It was a good opportunity to learn about the communities that Berkeley operates in and to be able to give them a positive experience of what the community can offer. Kitchen Social is a great concept and hearing how pleased the families were after was very rewarding.”
A massive thank you to the Berkeley Foundation for all their support. Thank you also to Berkeley volunteers, and all other volunteers across Kitchen Social who give their time, energy and insights to help build a fairer, greener London that celebrates and connects around food and strong communities.