Leading homeless, food and education charity Beyond Food Foundation has been awarded a £50K grant from The Fishmongers’ Company, one of the City of London’s oldest Livery Companies.
The funding will support Beyond Food’s emergency response plan to help vulnerable and disadvantaged adults affected by the Covid-19 crisis. It is the largest grant to have been made by the organisation, to date, in relation to the ongoing pandemic.
Beyond Food Foundation – which provides skills development and career support, within the hospitality sector, to disadvantaged and often homeless adults – recently announced its strategy in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, focussed on helping those suffering financial hardship, mental health issues, loneliness or in need of food supplies.
Its approach centres on connecting skilled people with those in need of support, in light of the UK-wide lock down, and is aimed at vulnerable groups such as those living in hostels, relying on food banks, navigating life out of the prison system and struggling with mental health or loneliness.
Beyond Food will enhance its crisis hotline, from 21 April, in collaboration with Shout, to include a 24/7 text service, free on all major mobile networks, for anyone struggling to cope and in need of immediate help. The line will be powered by a team of volunteers.
This builds upon the ongoing support service in place for its own network of hundreds of graduates, apprentices and others facing difficulties as a result of the pandemic. Having recently transitioned its latest cohort of apprentice chefs into full time employment in kitchens across the capital – and subsequently seen all of them furloughed and having to navigate life in lockdown – Beyond Food is responding to increasing demand for support on issues ranging from DWP and job centre advice, to health, nutrition and wellbeing.
The Fishmongers’ Company has stood on the banks of the River Thames for over 700 years and is a well-known provider of charitable grants focussed on poverty prevention and relief. Its core focus areas include funding charitable projects in the areas of mental health, education in prisons and food and nutrition.
Simon Boyle, Chef Founder of Brigade and Beyond Food Foundation: “The longer-term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on country are hard to fathom, but what’s already clear is that it’s the vulnerable and disadvantaged in who will be most acutely affected.
We’re talking about the homeless, those living in hostels, relying on food banks, navigating life out of the prison system, struggling with mental health or loneliness. It’s these often-overlooked members of society – we call them the “unknown vulnerable” – that need help right now.
From support with mental health and wellbeing, to providing administrative assistance navigating the system around government, council, DWP and job centre advice, help is needed to ensure that these people don’t slip through the cracks.
We have a major role to play in this and charities need as much support as we can get in the coming months, particularly smaller operations without the financial reserves. We are pushing every day for further funding so that we can keep supporting vulnerable people, our own beneficiaries and wider, and we are so thankful to organisations such as The Fishmonger’s Company, who have long been supporters of Beyond Food, for their amazing support in this time of crisis.”
The Fishmongers’ Company: “The health and wellbeing of the nation is the present concern. At the Fishmongers’ Company, we believe that supporting opportunities and initiatives over the long-term is the most powerful way to enable people to live healthy, fulfilled lives. During the current Covid-19 crisis, we are making a special effort to support our existing partners working in areas of the highest relevance. Beyond Food’s ‘Reaching Out’ project is a great example of how we can be as effective as possible for those on the periphery of society. This combines aspects of food and nutrition (especially fish), education, prisoner rehabilitation and mental health. It is crucial work and we wish them the best of luck.”