When: Thursday 7th September, 7.00 – 9.00pm.
Where: The Blue Room (upstairs) at The Prince of Peckham pub
Charge: £3 minimum donation
The Prince of Peckham is at the junction of Peckham High Street and Clayton Road, SE15 5JA. It’s about 10 minutes walk from Peckham Rye station and less than 5 minutes from Queens Road station. There are several bus routes and car parking nearby.
Before 2010 there were few food banks in the UK. Now there are over 2,500. Why? Who are the typical clients? Where does the food come from? Who distributes it? What, if anything, is the government doing about it?
These are some of the questions that will be addressed in our next discussion which will be led by Helen Mason, the Director of the Helping Hands Food Bank at AFRIL – Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL is one of the charities that SELHuG supports). Helping Hands provides sustained support for refugees, asylum-seekers and vulnerable migrant families, distributing fresh food, vouchers and toiletries. Appallingly in this day and age, clients must be assessed as destitute to benefit.
Helen will talk about the history of food banks in the UK, describe the types of families that it helps and the relationship with food donors and the food retailers. An interesting feature of Helping Hands is that it includes AFRIL’s Allotment of Refuge, where refugees can gain social and emotional support from growing their own food and contribute their produce to the food bank.
This meeting will be held in The Blue Room at The Prince of Peckham pub. This is an innovation for SELHuG, following from our decision at the recent AGM to return to face-to-face meetings but no longer stick to a regular date or venue. On arrival buy whatever drinks you require over the bar and then come upstairs to The Blue Room. See you there!
