Following the impact of the global pandemic and the cost of living crisis on communities nationwide, food insecurity continues to dominate headlines. Like so many other charities, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people who can’t access the food they need and a surge in demand on our services.

Our charity has responded by finding innovative solutions, growing our operations and enhancing our provision. Over the last year, we have opened more Community Food Hubs, extended service hours at our Nourish Hub in London, and hosted additional educational sessions to empower our community. UKHarvest have positively impacted hundreds of thousands of lives every week. We have provided food to those who need it most, brought communities together to tackle social isolation, educated communities on food waste and addressed the wider social issues that often impact the health of those we support by signposting to partner organisations.

Keeping our service users at the heart of everything we do, we have driven innovation and partnerships with compassion. Despite the heartbreaking stories we have heard from our service users, the stories we have heard following the use of our services have given us hope and motivated us to continue our mission.

We now operate Community Food Hubs at 16 locations, each supporting up to 100 families every week. Our signposting services have become a core component of our Community Food Hubs, Nourish Hub and community programmes. We continue to offer education to families and combat holiday hunger with Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) provision and our innovative Family Fun Days. Our Nourish Hub has expanded its offerings and services to meet the needs of its visitors. To make the food we rescue go further we provided training to our volunteers and incepted food earlier in the supply chain.

Our efforts have not gone unnoticed. Alongside continual press coverage, we have received recognition for our Community Food Hubs at the National Recycling Awards in its Food Waste Initiative category and added The UK Best 100 Taste Awards to our list of Nourish Hub awards. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, volunteers and supporters who have been instrumental in our journey. We would like to thank the Goodman Foundation, our founding donor, and all those who make our work possible.

Looking ahead to next year, we are excited to launch Grub Club to support school families, deliver more HAF Family Fun Days, and increase educational offerings at the Nourish Hub with tailored courses. We plan to provide specialised training for our volunteers and service users, enhance signposting across our projects, expand our online offerings, and strengthen our educational initiatives in schools.

Together, with the unwavering support of our donors and partners, we continue to make a sustainable difference to the lives of those we serve. Thank you for believing in our mission and helping us prevent food waste and food insecurity by enriching and educating our communities.

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