COVID-19 Community Food Distribution Centre

The Gleaners is a community cafe based at the Hornbeam Centre in Walthamstow. As part of the Hornbeam's Food Rescue Project we use surplus ingredients and run on a pay-what-you-feel basis.

We have been adapting the way we run to support our community in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

We are now supplying essential groceries and hot meals for free to those who need them in Waltham Forest.

We are here in solidarity for all members of our community, in particular those likely to be hit hardest by the crisis, such as the elderly, immunocompromised, homeless, single parents, refugees, children on free school meals, and those in precarious employment.

Please help us to support access to healthy food for all.

The Plan

We’re now open each day from 12-3pm as a COVID-19 Community Food Distribution Centre.

Working together with other teams at the Hornbeam, Plantlife and surplus food suppliers, the community cafe will provide hot, nutritious meals and grocery bags packed with fruit, vegetables, staples, and snacks, to anyone in need of support, whether due to financial strain or self-isolation.

Food can either be collected from us, or delivered straight to the homes of those in isolation through The Hornbeam’s Good Deeds On Bikes volunteer project. We also deliver to other food distribution hubs and mutual aid groups.

But to keep this project going – and reach as many people as we can – we need your support.

Support

Please donate if you can to help us provide essential, nutritious food to the community.

Any donation – large or small – will go a long way. It will help to cover the cost of the following:

• Ingredients to supplement surplus produce and help make tasty, nutritious meals. 
• Compostable take-away containers. 
• Alcohol based sanitisers and other essential cleaning products. 
• Wages for our workers at the London Living Wage rate. We run as a small workers’ cooperative, and want to support job security and fair pay at a time when so many people are losing their jobs.

As a not-for-profit community cafe running a pay-what-you-feel model, we do not have any savings and have now lost our limited income from cafe sales. However, we have the skills and infrastructure to get hundreds of meals and groceries to others in our community throughout the current crisis, and want to keep working to increase access to good food for all.

If you’d like to help but cannot donate, we’d love you to volunteer your skills and time. Just let us know if you’re interested or keep an eye out for callouts through the Hornbeam’s website.

Thank you so much for any donations. We are very grateful. The money will go far at this time to help us to support many in our community.

This project was featured in the Waltham Forest Echo, you can read the article here: https://walthamforestecho.co.uk/help-is-at-hand/