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What’s that saying “All best laid plans of mice and men” … 

Tara Hanna started looking after Exodus YouthWorx UK full time in February 2020 and by March we found ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic so it’s safe to say that our plans have had to change ever so slightly! 

As soon as we knew that life was going to look a little different for the foreseeable, we got to work to see where Exodus was needed and what role we could play. It started with some printed flyers, introducing ourselves to the community and asking them to contact us if they needed any support; shopping, picking up prescriptions or simply someone to talk to. Straight away we had a slow but steady stream of residents who needed our support. 

We received some donations that enabled us to shop and donate to the local foodbank, North Enfield Foodbank. These donations were greatly appreciated at a time early in the pandemic when many shop shelves had been emptied of pasta, flour, and toilet rolls!

We then contacted our local McDonalds to find out what was happening with their produce as by now all their restaurants had closed and no-one knew how long for. We were in luck and over the course of the next few weeks we were driving all over London and Hertfordshire collecting burgers, chicken, buns, muffins, juices, sauces, and fresh produce; often taking 5 or 6 cars with us and distributing to homeless outreaches, the North Enfield Foodbank, Stevenage Foodshed, North Middlesex Hospital, Project Wingman, Cooking Champions and some families we had highlighted that could benefit from some support with food. This was no mean feat when some deliveries would consist of thousands of burgers or pieces of chicken.

This is where our team of volunteers were vital. We really could not have done any of this without them; residents, teachers, business owners, parents, friends, and family. Everyone wanted to do what they could to help.

Covid Consortium

We were asked to join the Love Your Doorstep (LYDS) consortium by Emma Rigby. This consisted of charities and organisations that would come together during the Coronavirus pandemic to work together for the benefit of our community. 

Exodus then started working with a single secondary school in Enfield asking them to highlight any families that might benefit from some support with food. These families were contacted and were all grateful for some extra support. Initially we were delivering food donated from McDonalds to around 35 families, in addition to charities and organisations within the LYDS consortium. 

Through this wonderful group, we were then introduced to Cooking Champions, led by the amazing Clare Donovan, who were already cooking up a storm, making meals throughout the week and delivering across the borough. Clare agreed to help us with meals for our families and we started working together, delivering meals cooked by Cooking Champions and care packages filled with fresh produce donated by the Felix Project and Exodus to our families and helping Cooking Champions with their deliveries. We soon took on another secondary school and then a primary school. Delivery day was on Fridays, and we had around 8 volunteers on the road delivering around 300 meals a week to 50 families. By now we were nearing the end of the school term, which meant schools would be closed for the six-week summer holidays. We were concerned how our families would cope so we regrouped, changed strategy, and decided to set up a series of hubs where all the families that Exodus YouthWorx UK, Enfield Town Schools Partnership and Cooking Champions had been supporting were all offered the opportunity to continue receiving support. They were so relieved. Families would be able to collect meals from a hub close to home. Some families still needed deliveries due to shielding, disability, or other needs and of course this continued. 

Feed Enfield 

Four “Feed Enfield” hubs were set up across the borough and families were notified of their allocated hub’s location and opening times. Families were contacted each week to confirm they still needed meals and that they could make the pickup time. It was such a blessing to hear some families begin to get back on their feet again over the summer and we were so pleased when a few families said that they didn’t need the support anymore. Sadly, this wasn’t the case for most, but it was still a great thing to hear. 

Exodus YouthWorx UK also provided many essential items for the hubs including cereal, fruit, salad, vegetables, tea, pasta, milk, biscuits, crisps and juices so families were going home with lovely meals and items for their cupboards. 

We were blessed to receive funding from the #LoveYourNeighbour campaign, a grassroots UK-wide emergency response to the Covid-19 crisis, which allowed us to continue throughout the summer and also provide Cooking Champions with ingredients for the meals they were making.  This is a collaboration under the Church Revitalisation Trust (CRT) with the HTB Network, Resurgo Trust and many other churches and partners. 

Together, we are playing our part in helping the most isolated and vulnerable in our communities at this time. 

Back to School 

On the final week of our Feed Enfield Summer project, we thought about those children returning to school unprepared. We put together pencil cases filled to the brim with math sets, pens, pencils, highlighters, glue, erasers, and sharpeners. We also added in some encouraging words and a sweet treat. These were given to 86 children between 11 and 18 to help prepare them for their return to the classroom. The children were so pleased to have received such gifts and we wish them all well in this new school year.

Bethel Centre and Stevenage Foodshed

Alongside the work we have been doing in Enfield, we have also been made aware of some additional places where we could be of use. 

We made visits to a convent to provide hampers for the Sisters living there. We also spoke to some of the staff whose circumstances had changed due to the pandemic, such as job loss, putting them in quite difficult situations, so we provided them with hampers to support them and their families. 

We were made aware of the Stevenage Foodshed who do a wonderful job for their local community and on occasions they had supported us with some produce, and we were happy enough to return their kindness with some fresh produce for their foodbank.

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