Tuesday 21st July
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Report written by Anastasia Hancock (she/her)
Last night GoodGym Westminster combined food rescue with community outreach. The evening started with an unexpected bonus – bumping into Brenda on her way to Gail's! After a quick hello, I headed off to Hyde Park to meet Khai, and together we ran back to reunite with Brenda outside Gail's Bakery for GoodGym Westminster's first food rescue from this location.
There was a little bit of confusion to begin with but once we'd cracked the issue, we successfully rescued three bags of perfectly good food that would otherwise have gone to waste.
Our next stop was to meet Under One Sky, a charity that supports people experiencing homelessness by providing essential items, food, hot drinks and compassionate outreach. Their volunteers head out onto the streets to build trusted relationships with rough sleepers, offering practical help alongside signposting to longer-term support services. In Westminster, where rough sleeping remains one of the biggest challenges facing the borough, organisations like Under One Sky provide a vital lifeline for people who are often isolated and in crisis.
The second challenge of the evening was finding the team, who were already on the move with their trolley full of food and hot drinks! After a bit of tracking them down, we caught up, handed over the rescued goodies, and had a great chat about making this a regular Tuesday evening partnership.
Our collaboration that ticks every box: delicious food is rescued instead of being wasted, and it reaches people who can really benefit from it the very same evening.
No food waste, more people fed - a real win-win.
Westminster
See more of London whilst doing some exercise at the same time
