A Bristol charity has repurposed its operational process in under two weeks to ensure the city's most vulnerable people receive vital food supplies through the Covid-19 epidemic.
The Matthew Tree Project is working on the frontline to support around 500 vulnerable households across Bristol and help them cope over the coming months.
The charity will provide around 9,000 nutritious meals every week to Bristol and South Gloucestershire’s most vulnerable households with its new service, in addition to operating a crisis support phone service.
New referrals surged last week alone by 260 per cent, a trend the charity expects to continue as the illness spreads further.
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Since being founded in 2010 The Matthew Tree Project has collected leftover food from restaurants and distributed it around the city from its Lawrence Hill hub, ensuring no food goes to waste.
Now, to bolster food stocks and supply more people in need throughout the pandemic, it has launched an industrial kitchen operation in Cheswick Village run by Boston Tea Party chefs, who are making meals from perishable foods for people who need them most across the city.
How to support the initiative
The Matthew Tree is now in urgent need of donations, however big or small, to help buy basic ingredients and turn what would be food waste into meals, with the help of Boston Tea Party workers.
To donate to the project and help the charity serve more vulnerable people, visit the Just Giving page here.
This week also saw the launch of Bristol Food Union, a new initiative headed up by top Bristol chefs and food organisations to ensure the city's most vulnerable people are fed during the Covid-19 crisis.
Headed up by Aine Morris of Food Union Media, Josh Eggleton of the Pony & Trap group and Steph Wetherell of Bristol Food Producers, it is producing food for people in need from six production kitchens in restaurants around the city that are closed due to the pandemic.
More information about the Matthew Tree Project, which was recently recognised nationally by the Parliamentary Review, can be found on its website.
