Emergency bulk purchase of food supplies

Aim

Using the power of our partnership to bulk purchase emergency food supplies to bolster our food banks during the winter crisis.

What is the OX4 Food Crew?

The OX4 Food Crew is a place based systemic response to food insecurity in OX4. Together we have developed a sophisticated nexus of support to respond to the increasingly precarious circumstances faced by our communities, with a focus on food insecurity. We deliver hyper-local interventions that prioritise lived experience when seeking solutions, acknowledging the power of co-production and of grass-roots level expertise.

Bulk purchasing of emergency food supplies this winter.

The provision of food in the form of food parcels, cooked meals, and community meals is the core of what we do at OX4 Food Crew. We simply cannot deliver this service without the food we require. The OX4 Food Crew is facing unprecedented challenges as we enter into winter. Winters are always a difficult time. But this year we believe we are facing a crisis. That crisis is threatening to cripple our ability to sustain the capacity we have created and the services our beneficiaries have come to rely on.

The cost of living crisis has exacerbated food insecurity faced by our communities. In addition to the thousands of individuals and families that have engaged with support over the past three years, many more new people are now coming forward to access support, placing considerable strain on our already stretched resources. Alongside rising demand for food, there have been considerable food shortages amongst the partnership’s major food suppliers.

We must act.

We aim to harness the power of our partnership working as a group of organisations to bulk purchase essential additional food supplies which have become unavailable through food surplus programs. We need to be able to purchase, store, coordinate and distribute additional food supplies across our network of nine organisations to meet increased demand and decreased resources. This will help us maintain the capacity we have worked so hard to create.

Why OX4?

• OX4 is home to 4 of the 10-20% most deprived wards nationally.
• Over 30% of children in Rose Hill, BlackBird Leys and Iffley are living in food poverty.
• Inequality in average life expectancy is stark for many residents of OX4. For example, men in Northfield Brook next to Blackbird Leys – one of the poorest wards in the city –die on average at 75 – 15 years younger than their counterparts living in North ward, just north of St Giles, which is one of the city’s most affluent areas.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

This project successfully funded on 3rd January 2023