OUR ABOUT US

Mike says: The journey began in March 2020, you remember the month the world ended?

I had been working for one of London's most prestigious Chauffeur companies for over 16 years, supplying vehicles for clients as diverse as well-heeled airline passengers through to Presidential visits via events such as the British Grand Prix, 2012 Olympics, London Fashion Week. The business was heavily airline based and when the borders closed furlough beckoned. The sofa and TV / film streaming also beckoned...

My wife, Irma, however, had other ideas.

Irma is originally from Colombia and an active member of the Latin American diaspora in London, she was acutely aware of people in her community who would suffer due to the Covid Lockdown, be they of irregular status or simply reliant on jobs that were unlikely to be paying furlough.

It started with contacting local schools to enquire what they were going to doing with the food they had with a fraction of the pupils they'd normally need. They readily provided us with food which we then re-distributed to those whom her network was telling us needed help and if anything was left over this was shared with our neighbours.

By word of mouth, social media platform etc. a network of likeminded people and groups were encountered, the food redistribution became more organised and regularised.

Although furlough meant a reduced salary, there was nowhere to spend the money, so we used it to support our operations; buying bags to divide up loose groceries for distribution, sanitiser and, of course, PPE.

For me furlough was followed by garden leave then redundancy as the parent company of my employer decided to shelve our brand, a sad end to what had been a great company. The redundancy pay out meant I could continue to work with my wife helping people worse off than ourselves.

Eventually in April 2021 I had to return to full time employment, and my level of support for operations was reduced to what could be achieved after normal working hours and weekends.

Irma continued and intensified her operations, but in order to continue to receive assistance it became necessary to formalise the situation, hence the need to create the Community Food Aid Project CIC, my role is a support one, continuing to use my salary to ensure operations continue.

The company's activities provide benefit to persons of low income in the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark referred to us by the same vulnerable families that receive our weekly support, including but not limited to:

-Latin-American people of irregular status.

-Nuns who support elders at the Care Homes (SW8)

-Clients of the Food Aid Operation

Our capacity to provide Food Aid is based on the amount of food donations to our non-profit Community Project.

We did have a volunteer driver for quite a while however ill health has now ruled him out and we are paying for a man with a van to collect the food.

Outside of this project we are parents of five children (all are now adults!) and I am a keen supporter of a football club that I have seen win the FA Cup and European Trophy, but have fallen on hard times.

Irma says; I had been volunteering for 5 years at Tower Bridge Care Home prior to Covid.

The daughter of one of the residents there visited after returning from China and the next few days I was feeling confused, with continuous cough, high temperature, chills, muscle pain, loss of my normal sense of taste and smell, shortness of breath, and unexplained tiredness, lack of energy. Covid? Maybe, I didn't go to the doctor, it was before covid became big news.

When covid became big news I had enough time to think about the condition that others in my Spanish-speaking community might find themselves in, not knowing if they were being made aware of what was happening worldwide due the language barrier. Or perhaps exposing themselves to being infected or infecting others by not knowing the regulations and restrictions in place in the UK.

It was on my sick bed that the idea a Community Project was formed.

Community FOOD AID Project CIC, started this challenge during the Covid-19 Pandemic, in March 2020 under the name of Transformation Social Covid-19, helping our closest neighbours in and using the social media Facebook (UK Lewisham) we began to inform others of relevant news  translated into Spanish about regulations, protection, self isolation and other from GOV.UK, WHO, NHS; and PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND, to help the Spanish speaking community to understand the chaotic situation around the world.

We then stood in solidarity with the Spanish-speaking community with irregular status, Portuguese and other different cultures who were in lockdown, self isolating, and extremely vulnerable; +65, etc.
We joined the community's efforts to care for the most vulnerable in society through volunteering; partnering with other organizations, to participate in responding to the needs of others in a useful way, developing supportive relationships and working together to achieve individual and group goals.

Closing the chapter of the Pandemic crisis, opens another chapter with new challenges in society that are gradually rising, affecting the vulnerable communities and minorities.

The high cost of living; the influx of newcomers into UK due no visa restrictions, UK supermarkets rationing fruit and vegetables in the face of shortages, rising energy prices and more. Our suppliers are providing less food, forcing us to limit the number of people our community project can help.

Moving on we are continuously searching other ways to continue rescuing food and tracking where the resources are to find funding or other organisations to share the essentials items we need to distribute to the most needy.

We continue to visit Latin markets and different types of charities to search for food and other daily living  essentials. Going door to door, despite a medical condition that affects my mobility. I have problems with my; spine, hip and right arm, these have not been an obstacle to continue seeking resources.
I had the opportunity to share with many colleagues in volunteering the struggling, exhausting, frustrating time we are coming through as a community project and finally a small light was on to guide the path where to go; I joined training provided by Project Smith Community Connectors.
Community Connectors (Lambeth) are local people who link others in their local community with activities and organisations that can help improve their quality of life.

And yesterday 28th February 2023, I found the easy way to get toiletries and hand sanitizer in just 24 hours sending email request and next day to collect. That makes it easier to get donations from my ‘office’ chair.