Parishioners at churches in a London borough with huge disparities between rich and poor have spoken about how they have been helped through the coronavirus crisis by our Food For London Now campaign.
Two churches in Kensington and Chelsea, St Mary of the Angels and St Peter’s, worked with our appeal partner charity, The Felix Project, to deliver food to vulnerable people in the local community.
St Mary of the Angels would normally provide a regular morning sit-down service for local homeless people, but during the Covid crisis it offered takeaway food instead.
Johnny Keong, who runs its community outreach, said: “We have witnessed a spike in visitors. Most of the new guests are employees in the hospitality sector as we are close to tourist areas.”
Churches like St Mary have begun to reopen since July 4, when the resumption of public worship was allowed. St Peter’s on Elgin Avenue tripled its deliveries from The Felix Project to take food parcels to isolated parishioners.
It also ran a foodbank used by more than 40 people in north Paddington, Notting Dale and Grenfell. Jacqui Haynes, support co-ordinator for the church, called The Felix Project “a literal Godsend”, adding “it is thanks to our connection with Felix that our service is continuing to provide adequately for the needs of our community”. Glenda Alters, who has received food from St Peter’s for the past few months, said: “It was hard because my income support was stopped and my husband had a stroke, so I had no income for several months and needed food. Without St Peter’s, people would be in a really bad way.”
Julie Mathurin, who lives in Notting Hill and gets food from St Peter’s, said: “I suffer with autism and live on my own with help. Sometimes I have no food and St Peter’s gives me food so I don’t go hungry.”
Mohammed Dekhar, who lives in St Mungo’s hostel, said: “We have been fortunate to receive food deliveries. With most of our residents on benefits, there is very little help for us and having this service on our doorstep has been of great benefit.”
Although Kensington includes some of London’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, it also has areas of deprivation. The Child Poverty Action Group estimated in 2018 that more than 6,000 children in the constituency were growing up in poverty.
Rev Paul Cowley, whose St Francis Church operates a foodbank near Grenfell Tower for 400 local families, said this had been “an extraordinary opportunity for the church to shine and help its local community”.
He said: “It’s in Matthew chapter 25: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”
