Latest news with #TheFelixProject
The Independent
17-07-2025
- General
- The Independent
Majority of teachers fear children will go hungry during school holidays, survey says
Two-thirds of teachers in England are concerned that children in their schools will go hungry during the summer holidays, according to new research. A survey of over 9,000 educators by the London food redistribution charity, The Felix Project, found widespread worries that parents or carers cannot afford to feed their children over the break. Half of respondents feared up to three children in their class would go hungry, with primary schools seeing the highest numbers. The Felix Project has also reported an increase in demand for food supplies during school holidays. Charlotte Hill, chief executive of The Felix Project, highlighted the challenges families face. "For so many the holidays are a real struggle. With schools closed and free school meals unavailable, it is the parents and carers who must cover the cost of that meal," she said. Hill added: "But for many, on already tight food budgets, the extra burden is just unmanageable. All this means kids will go hungry. It is a sad reality, and The Felix Project is doing what it can to support people in need." She concluded: "During the summer months there is often more surplus food available, but with more food comes more logistics and more costs and that is why we are launching an urgent summer appeal."
Fashion Network
22-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Westfield claims almost £24m in 'social value' for its UK malls last year
Shopping centre performance isn't just about footfall and retail. Major London malls operator Westfield (part of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield) has reported £23.8 million in social value generated across its UK destinations in 2024. Its latest Social Value Impact Report, which focuses on the scale and scope of social investment (including job creation, youth engagement, biodiversity and community-led initiatives) covers three of its key London malls. Westfield Stratford City recorded the highest year-on-year increase in social value across the UK portfolio, rising by £3.6 million to reach £12.5 million in 2024. Community investment more than doubled to £6.7 million, bolstered by initiatives such as The Felix Project, which redistributed 2.6 million meals and prevented 1,430 tonnes of CO₂e from going to waste across the UK. Other highlights include £13,000 in bursaries for Newham students through the Birkbeck Student Fund and the Newham Music Hub welcoming over 10,000 visitors. Volunteering hours rose by nearly 50%, 'reflecting deeper local community engagement'. Westfield London social value contribution increased from £9.8 million in 2023 to £10.5 million in 2024, a 7% increase year-on-year. The report said local employment rose by more than 10% in 2024, reflecting strong job growth in the area, with work opportunities increasing by 60%, and community investment nearly doubling. Other key contributors include West London Retail Skills Hub which, since its launch, has engaged 126 employers, and West Youth Zone, which recorded 22,853 visits in its first year, offering affordable, high-impact programmes to over 2,400 young people. In its first year of reporting, Centrale & Whitgift Shopping Centres in Croydon generated £813,241 in social value. Key milestones included the unveiling of the Elianne Andam Memorial Mural, created in partnership with local organisations, and the impactful 'Cut It Out' football match at Crystal Palace — both aimed at promoting youth safety and community cohesion. Looking ahead, the centre plans to expand its reporting scope in 2025 to capture social value generated through its supply chain. Jacinta Rowsell, managing director, Customer & Retail Operations, Northern Europe, URW, said: 'The remarkable growth in social value across our UK centres highlights the transformative impact of sustained community investment, a core driver of our Better Places strategy. 'From job creation and youth engagement to environmental initiatives, these efforts reflect our commitment to fostering thriving, resilient communities. As we continue to expand our programmes, we remain dedicated to driving meaningful change that benefits both people and the planet.'
Fashion Network
22-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Westfield claims almost £24m in 'social value' for its UK malls last year
Shopping centre performance isn't just about footfall and retail. Major London malls operator Westfield (part of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield) has reported £23.8 million in social value generated across its UK destinations in 2024. Its latest Social Value Impact Report, which focuses on the scale and scope of social investment (including job creation, youth engagement, biodiversity and community-led initiatives) covers three of its key London malls. Westfield Stratford City recorded the highest year-on-year increase in social value across the UK portfolio, rising by £3.6 million to reach £12.5 million in 2024. Community investment more than doubled to £6.7 million, bolstered by initiatives such as The Felix Project, which redistributed 2.6 million meals and prevented 1,430 tonnes of CO₂e from going to waste across the UK. Other highlights include £13,000 in bursaries for Newham students through the Birkbeck Student Fund and the Newham Music Hub welcoming over 10,000 visitors. Volunteering hours rose by nearly 50%, 'reflecting deeper local community engagement'. Westfield London social value contribution increased from £9.8 million in 2023 to £10.5 million in 2024, a 7% increase year-on-year. The report said local employment rose by more than 10% in 2024, reflecting strong job growth in the area, with work opportunities increasing by 60%, and community investment nearly doubling. Other key contributors include West London Retail Skills Hub which, since its launch, has engaged 126 employers, and West Youth Zone, which recorded 22,853 visits in its first year, offering affordable, high-impact programmes to over 2,400 young people. In its first year of reporting, Centrale & Whitgift Shopping Centres in Croydon generated £813,241 in social value. Key milestones included the unveiling of the Elianne Andam Memorial Mural, created in partnership with local organisations, and the impactful 'Cut It Out' football match at Crystal Palace — both aimed at promoting youth safety and community cohesion. Looking ahead, the centre plans to expand its reporting scope in 2025 to capture social value generated through its supply chain. Jacinta Rowsell, managing director, Customer & Retail Operations, Northern Europe, URW, said: 'The remarkable growth in social value across our UK centres highlights the transformative impact of sustained community investment, a core driver of our Better Places strategy. 'From job creation and youth engagement to environmental initiatives, these efforts reflect our commitment to fostering thriving, resilient communities. As we continue to expand our programmes, we remain dedicated to driving meaningful change that benefits both people and the planet.'
The Independent
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Is Labour's breakfast club roll-out a poorly-disguised bribe?
After nine months, the government finally claims to have started to deliver practical help to families. On Monday morning, 750 primary schools across England opened their doors half an hour early to the children of parents who want to take advantage of breakfast clubs. Breakfast clubs feel like the sort of retail politics that actually matters to people, akin to the free school lunches for under-sevens introduced by Nick Clegg in the coalition government in 2014, and the recent extensions of taxpayer-funded childcare. Indeed, one of the features of breakfast clubs is that they provide another half-hour-a-day of childcare. The breakfast club pilot scheme is a remarkably modest first step. Local councils complain that the plan, being introduced in just one in 20 primary schools in England, is underfunded. But it seems sensible to work gradually towards Labour's manifesto promise of a breakfast club in every primary school. The bigger question is whether it is the right priority, given that every pound spent on a breakfast club is a pound that cannot be spent on something else. It could be argued that charities, including The Felix Project, which saves surplus supermarket food from going to waste and sends it to schools and clubs, already do a good job. Equally, it could be argued that taxpayers' money would be more effective in tackling child poverty if it went towards raising the two-child limit on benefits. By coincidence, the breakfast clubs were rolled out on the same day as a group of charities issued a warning that record numbers of children could be pushed into poverty by the two-child limit. The brutal political reality, though, is that breakfast clubs are popular, whereas paying welfare benefits to families with three or more children is not. Partly, this is because universal provision tends to be more popular than targeted help for the poor. This remains true, despite the Daily Mail 's complaint that the free school lunches for infants 'mean the children of millionaires are now being fed at taxpayers' expense, alongside the impoverished children who really need help'. Labour tends to favour universal provision, on the grounds that it helps to bind in the support of the middle classes and avoid the stigma of means-testing, but the problem is that it is much more expensive – which is why Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor would allow Bridget Phillipson, as shadow education secretary, only to make the (modest) promise of breakfast clubs rather than the (expensive) promise to extend free school lunches. In such matters, 'popular' is a relative term, however. There was not much evidence of a huge wave of grateful support for the government in September last year, when 15 hours a week of free childcare was extended to the 'eligible working parents' (those earning up to £100,000 a year) of children aged between nine months and two. Perhaps that was because it was a bipartisan policy, following a timetable announced by the Conservative government, even if Labour insisted that the previous government had not set aside the funding needed for it. Or perhaps it was because taxpayers have some understanding that they are being bribed with their own money. Still, if the government is going to bribe people with their own money, it might as well let them know by how much they are benefiting. Hence Labour's campaign on social media to promote the policy, and the government's information materials, which put a price on the policy: 'It means those parents can drop their children off half an hour earlier – helping parents get into work, giving them up to 95 additional hours back to juggle busy mornings, and saving working families up to £450 a year.' Currently, that saving is available only to one family of primary-school children in 20, in England, but Labour must hope that the offer of 'up to' £450 for all parents of young children will be part of its promise of help with the cost of living at the next election.
The Independent
02-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
How The Felix Project became London's fourth emergency service
Felix Byam Shaw was on holiday off the coast of France when he suddenly began shivering. Earlier that day, the schoolboy had seemed his usual good-natured, energetic self, cycling to a nearby village with friends with his trademark cheeky smile on his face. Yet in the early hours of the next morning, 19 July 2014, Felix died from a rare virulent strain of meningococcal disease called MenW ST-11. He was just 14 years old. In the devastation that followed for his parents, Justin and Jane Byam Shaw, one thought became a guiding light: the idea of creating a lasting tribute that would live up to the ideals of their 'extraordinarily compassionate' son. They were particularly inspired by a time when Felix had helped to feed a group of boys from London who had turned up to play in a football tournament on empty stomachs. 'He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing when he found out that some of those boys hadn't had any breakfast,' says Jane. In 2016, The Felix Project was born to 'fulfil some of his dreams', by rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste – from wholesalers, supermarkets, farms, restaurants and high street chains such as Pret a Manger – and giving it to community organisations and schools. At first, there was just one van and a depot in west London. Today, thanks to the Byam Shaws' extraordinary entrepreneurial skill and vision, the organisation is Britain's biggest charity success of the past 25 years. Rarely a day goes by without you seeing one of its distinctive green vans whipping through London's streets. Emblazoned with a logo taken from a card written by Felix, they are a literal lifeline threading through the city and connecting people with an emergency service every bit as vital as the others. 'For people at the lowest ebb of their lives, make no mistake, Felix is a godsend. And not just for their stomachs, but for their state of mind,' says Stephen Chamberlain, founder of St Laurence's Larder. 'This food is the difference between health and sickness and, quite possibly, life and death.' The Felix Project is now London's largest food redistribution charity, giving to over 1,200 community organisations and schools every week. And none of it could happen without its army of helpers. In 2024 more than 13,000 people volunteered with The Felix Project and it was the biggest year to date at the Felix Kitchen with nearly 1.3 million freshly prepared, nutritious meals cooked and delivered to charity partners. It is now the largest food distribution charity in Europe and is on track to hand out 43 million meals this year. Unsurprisingly, the King and Queen have made supporting the organisation's work one of their key priorities during his reign. And on Thursday its remarkable achievements will be celebrated at a special event thrown by its founders to thank all those who have enabled their work to happen. And it's clear that work has never been more needed. Last week, Department for Work and Pensions data revealed that a staggering three in 10 British children are living in poverty, after the number soared from 4.3 million to 4.5 million between 2023 and 2024. The DWP also admitted that 250,000 more people, including 50,000 children, could fall into poverty by 2029-2030 following the government's sweeping welfare cuts and Rachel Reeves's spring statement. As the cost of living soars, research carried out recently by The Felix Project found that more than half of working families surveyed had been forced to turn to a food bank in the past year. It also found that one in four working parents regularly struggle to afford to feed their children. At the same time, Britain wastes almost 10 tonnes of food every year. Almost two tonnes come from the food industry, and currently, less than 1 per cent is recycled for human consumption. This is both morally abhorrent when so many are going hungry, and a disaster for the planet: every tonne of food waste ending in landfill produces approximately 4.2 tonnes of greenhouse gases. If it were a country, food waste would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases behind the US and China. 'The numbers are astounding on both sides of the equation,' says Charlotte Hill, who has been The Felix Project's chief executive for the past three years and has witnessed the brutal impact of soaring food and energy prices. 'Everything has gone up much, much faster than wages,' she says. 'There's been a big shift towards people you wouldn't traditionally have thought would rely on food aid. We see teaching assistants in our schools and hospital workers, people who work incredibly hard, but once they've paid their bills and put food on the table for their children, they're having to skip meals themselves.' The benefits of the food given to grassroots organisations go far beyond feeding its recipients. 'It frees up the organisations' budgets,' says Hill. 'Rather than paying for food, if you're a homeless shelter, you can pay for an additional advice or health worker or something that gives increased social impact and helps lift people out of poverty.' It is this kind of visionary thinking that has seen The Felix Project innovate time and time again. Last July, the Felix Multibank in Greenford was launched in partnership with Gordon Brown, Amazon and Comic Relief. This expanded their remit beyond food because it became ever more obvious that those who can't afford to feed their families aren't able to afford household items either. In the first six months, they distributed 1.5 million items, including nappies, toothpaste and sanitary products. A new Felix Food Factory in Deptford means they can process and distribute foods that otherwise couldn't be redistributed immediately. So a glut of tomatoes in August becomes bottled tomato sauce and crates of bananas become dehydrated banana chips. In their Canary Wharf office, they are growing herbs in vertical farming pods, a project soon to be expanded. The Felix Project's policy unit, led by Charlotte and Felix's brother Dan, was instrumental in persuading the government to award a £15m grant to the redistribution sector. Next up is a campaign focussing on food donation legislation in the shape of a Good Samaritan law like they have in the US. This would free donors from a high threshold of liability and treat food donations like cash donations for tax purposes. But for Paul Wilson, who oversees the food banks in London's East End, it's the sense of community that he and his volunteers are most proud of. Mothers with buggies, single adults and the elderly mingle, and volunteers give out bags containing staples such as bread, fruit and vegetables. But it's not a depressing scene. Far from it, the chat is lively and spirited. 'The beneficiaries who come find kindness and compassion, and a chance to talk to other people,' he says. 'It's a social thing, not a glum one.' For the 200 or so households supported by schemes in Mile End and Aldgate, the food is a vital safety net – and increasing numbers of those turning up for it don't fit the stereotype many might expect. 'Some are on benefits, but many who come to the foodbank are in paid work,' says Wilson, the community engagement manager at the housing association EastendHomes. 'You can't ever tell who's experiencing food insecurity, it's people of all ages and backgrounds.' E5 Pantry was set up five years ago to support families in Hackney with special educational needs and disabilities, but has expanded to meet the growing need of the local community. Volunteer drivers collect the food provided by The Felix Project from the nearby hub at Hackney City Farm and distribute it to hundreds of families. 'With the food we're able to give them, people are able to use that money on electricity, or maybe a treat for the children, which is really vital,' says Joseline Crome, who works there. Rachael began using the service a year ago, after she was diagnosed with a heart condition which left her unable to work and having to claim benefits. The money she no longer spends on food goes towards hygiene products and clothing, including a good quality, thick winter coat that saw her through this winter. 'This food and Felix have really helped me,' she says. Wilson sees similar stories. 'One woman told me the food meant she could afford broadband at home for the first time,' he says. 'It's the most effective work I've done in my 30 years of working in this field; it's transformational change.' Among its high-profile supporters is the King, a passionate champion of sustainability, who became a personal donor two years ago. The Foodbank Freezer Fund he convened has supplied 800 fridges and freezers to food charities across Britain. 'It was a game-changer for our community organisations, because they can say yes to so much more food, says Hill. The King was so inspired by The Felix Project's work that he has since partnered with the organisation to launch the Coronation Food Project, to increase food rescue and redistribution throughout the country. 'He's been an inspiration to work with on it,' says Hill. 'He's hugely engaged in driving it forward.' She says the charity now has a 'great opportunity' to work with Defra to change subsidies for farmers, to encourage them to send their surplus edible food into the food redistribution sector, rather than incentivising them to send it to be used for animal feed and fertiliser. 'In America, they redistribute 8 per cent of food, and here it's only 1 per cent, so we should be doing much better,' she says. The rising poverty levels mean demand for The Felix Project's work will continue to grow, too, and many would argue it is doing a job that is the state's responsibility. But Hill says: 'If you can create an ecosystem where the food industry, the voluntary sector and the state all collaborate, it works at its best.' She points to the work the organisation has done with London mayor Sadiq Khan to address holiday hunger, by providing free, nutritious meals to holiday programmes to ensure children have access to food during breaks from school. 'It's on all of us to come together and bring the best of what we can do,' she says. Thursday's event will take place at Refettorio Felix, a drop-in centre and community kitchen serving vulnerable people in Earl's Court. The food served will all be Felix surplus, cooked by Felix apprentices. There's much to celebrate, says Hill. 'You're also seeing the amazing community of people who show London at its best. It's very empowering.' When she and her husband first started The Felix Project, Jane Byam Shaw said: 'We felt Felix would have done amazing things in his life – and we wanted to rise to the challenge of living out some of those things in a way he wasn't able to do.' The millions of people the charity has helped in the 10 years since his death are testament to the extraordinary success they have achieved in his name. His father, Justin Byam Shaw, reflects: 'It sometimes occurs to me that there's a causal link between Felix's death and being able to help hundreds of thousands of people every week, and that the second couldn't have happened without the first. So in a sense that is his huge gift.'
