As over 100,000 Londoners receive three days of emergency food in 12 months
As foodbank visits in London rise past 100,000, a new food poverty campaign is launched to urge London’s boroughs to do more. The new initiative launched by London Food Link and funded by Trust for London targets how local authorities can help reduce food poverty beyond the foodbank.
Campaign group London Food Link today launches its London Food Poverty Campaign, calling for local authorities to adopt a range of measures that can reduce long-term food poverty beyond the foodbank. The campaign is in response to the rising numbers of Londoners receiving emergency food packages, with 40,000 of these going to children.
London Food Link say those using foodbanks are just the tip of the iceberg, with many more struggling to feed their families and unable or unwilling to go to foodbanks.
Abi Ramanan, London Food Poverty Campaign coordinator said: “Rather than focusing on institutionalising charity we believe in championing effective and affordable action to reduce food poverty such as adopting a living wage, improving healthy start voucher uptake, promoting breastfeeding, providing meals 365 days a year for children living in poverty, improving physical access to good food and preventing further cuts to community meals services. In the long-term, these measures will go a lot further towards ensuring everyone can afford and access nutritious food.”
A letter has been sent to all 33 London local authorities urging them toMay 1, 2015nses from which will be used to produce a report showcasing a series of maps displaying uptake across these areas and best practice case studies.
Through the London Food Poverty Campaign, London Food Link aim to map good practice on food poverty and increase uptake of these initiatives across London’s boroughs. Over the past 5 years, London Food Link’s mapping approach utilised in the Good Food for London report has had a real impact with progress across the board from London’s local authorities, benefitting the lives of Londoners health, our environment and economy. The first London Food Poverty mapping report will be released in autumn this year.
The new London campaign echoes the national call from the Sustainable Food Cities network for people to sign a declaration to tackle food poverty beyond the food bank, launched on 24th April.
April 30, 2015