When Dan Byam Shaw first began driving food delivery vans for the charity created in honour of his late brother, he was struck by how often people would greet the vehicle saying: “Look, Felix is here.”
The Felix Project’s logo, a trace of Felix’s own signature on a Mother’s Day card, adorns the bright green delivery vans that transport rescued surplus good-to-eat food and redistribute it to people in need. Founded in 2016 after 14-year-old Felix died of a rare strain of meningitis, the charity has become a key lifeline for families and communities across London, tackling both food waste and food poverty simultaneously.
Mr Byam Shaw is now preparing to run the London marathon dressed as one of the charity’s distinctive vans, and is seeking a Guinness World Record attempt for the “fastest marathon dressed as a road vehicle”.
He told The Independent that running carrying his brother’s name is an important way of keeping Felix with him, as well as raising awareness of the important work the charity does.
“In the part of London which we work, the big green vans are quite distinctive,” he said. “They’re a big part of what we do, moving food around, getting it to where it’s needed most, preventing waste, and I’ve always been a big fan of driving the vans. So I thought, ‘why not run as a van?’”
The first few times Mr Byam Shaw heard the vans referred to as simply “Felix”, it felt strange, “because for me, that carries a different meaning, Felix is my brother and Felix isn’t there,” he explained.
But over the years, he said he has begun to see the personal use of his brother’s name as a “really positive thing”, helping him feel that “in some ways, Felix is still here”.
The race, which takes place on the last weekend of April, is Mr Byam Shaw’s first marathon, although he has completed several races before. He said he has been training using weighted vests in a bid to simulate the weight of the homemade van costume, which is around 10kg.
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He is hoping to smash the current world record, which stands at 4 hours, 21 minutes and 41 seconds. “I’m optimistic that I might actually be able to break this record,” he said.
In past races, Mr Byam Shaw has worn the charity’s distinctive logo on a T-shirt and enjoyed support from spectators who shouted the name Felix at him while he ran. He said he hopes the same thing will happen at the end of April, and is “excited” to hear his brother’s name as he carries out the challenge on the day.
He is hoping to raise £20,000 in support of the charity, which he said has a particular “urgency” because of the project’s recent partnership with FareShareUK, taking them from a London-based organisation to a national charity. Following the merger, the charity says every £1 raised helps them deliver 2.7 meals.
“It has taken us from being a London charity to a UK-wide charity operating in all four nations all across the UK,” he explained. “So, as you can imagine, that comes with significantly added costs compared to running the charity just in London.
“So there’s a particular urgency towards any of our fundraising at the moment because we’ve taken on this exciting but also challenging responsibility.”
Also running from the charity are chief executive Charlotte Hill and deputy chief executive Kris Gibbon-Walsh.
Since its inception 10 years ago, the charity, which was founded to keep Felix’s compassion and empathy for those suffering from food poverty alive, has expanded to four depots in Enfield, Poplar, Deptford and Acton, before announcing its merger with national charity FareShareUK at the beginning of this year.
Last year, the charity rescued over 18,000 tonnes of surplus produce from 225 different suppliers and redistributed the equivalent of 44 million meals to over 1,200 community organisations and primary schools in London. The food supported an estimated 439,387 people each week, according to its 2025 impact report.
It was backed in 2020 by The Independent’s award-winning Help the Hungry campaign in partnership with our sister paper The London Standard, which helped the Felix Project raise an incredible £12m and led to a quadrupling of its food redistribution.
Ms Hill, CEO of the newly merged charity, said: “Felix’s green vans have become a symbol of hope across London. Dan’s challenge captures the spirit of what we do perfectly – turning something practical into something powerful that helps hundreds of thousands of people every day.”
You can donate to the fundraiser here.
