Last year, charitable social enterprise GLL embarked on a new partnership with The Felix Project, London’s largest food redistribution charity.
Six months on, and the collaboration has proved to be a resounding success. Approximately 76 tonnes of fresh produce has been handed out to the capital’s residents via GLL-run leisure centres – an amount that equals more than 180,000 free meals.
GLL runs sports facilities in Greater London under the ‘Better’ brand in partnership with local authorities. Meanwhile, The Felix Project and FareShare works with the food industry – rescuing high-quality, surplus food that cannot be sold and would otherwise go to waste – and redistributing it to people living in food insecurity.
As two non-profit-making organisations, GLL and The Felix Project and FareShare have a particularly harmonious relationship as both are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of local communities.
So far, Felix Fresh pop-up markets have been hosted at ‘Better’ facilities in the boroughs of Barnet, Croydon, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Waltham Forest – all areas which have been identified as having residents on some of the lowest incomes in London.
These events have succeeded due to real collective effort between the two organisations. Colleagues from ‘Better’ have ‘mucked in’ with workers from Felix – between them, giving out food parcels to individuals and community groups in record time.
The giveaways have also provided an opportunity for Better staff to tell customers about other initiatives such as the Holiday and Food schemes (HAF) and Healthwise.
Colin Coughtrey, GLL’s National Community Engagement Manager, comments, “It’s been a privilege to work alongside The Felix Project and Fareshare over the past six months. From day one, it was clear that our values are closely aligned, with a shared commitment to supporting communities, tackling inequality, and improving health and wellbeing.
“Together, we’ve been able to reach thousands of residents with vital support, not only providing access to nutritious food but also connecting people to wider services within our centres.
“This partnership is a powerful example of what can be achieved through collaboration, and we’re incredibly proud of the impact so far. We look forward to building on this success and continuing to support communities together in the months ahead.”
GLL leisure centres in the boroughs of Camden, Hillingdon, and Islington are currently making plans to collaborate with Felix in the coming months.
Rachel Ledwith, Head of Communities at The Felix Project and FareShare, contributes, “I cannot thank GLL enough for all their support. Every year, during harvest season, huge amounts of healthy, homegrown fruit and vegetables are at risk of going to waste.
“Felix Fresh is helping us to combat this, but we are only able to do it when we have the right partners in place. GLL is exactly that – because of them, so many people and families are getting free, healthy food and helping us to reduce food waste. We look forward to more success over the next 6 months.”
