New Covent Garden Market teamed up with food redistribution charity City Harvest to support the annual harvest festival service at Southwark Cathedral, on October 6th. Sarah Calcutt, who is a Non-Executive Director on the Covent Garden Market Authority Board, is also Chief Executive of Market tenant City Harvest. She delivered the address during the service that outlined just why the work of City Harvest is so valuable to the 20% of households across London and Greater London living in food insecurity.
Sarah Calcutt at Harvest Festival service at Glaziers Hall Southwark Cathedral.
City Harvest delivers 1.2 million meals a month to the capital's hungry and, increasingly, across the country. The charity has expanded rapidly through the last decade but said Sarah: "It hasn't been enough, so we continue to grow. We could double in size tomorrow and there would still be unmet need. Today, there are twice as many food banks [in Great Britain] than there are McDonald's outlets. There are as many food banks as there are branches of Tesco.
Half of London's single parent households are in food poverty, just think how desperate that must feel, how precarious your life is, in every moment. Think how often that parent goes without, so that their children can eat. That is not sustainable. That is not dignity. That is not acceptable," she said.
Wanda Goldwag OBE, with display of produce donated by NCGM traders in Southwark Cathedral.
CGMA Chair Wanda Goldwag OBE spoke at a reception after the service, on behalf of the NCGM community. "I thought what you said [during your address] was very powerful," said Wanda. "While listening to it, I also thought to myself 'when was I last actually hungry?' and the answer was in my early 20s when on one day in my life I did not have enough money to buy food. We scrambled around and found something called a traveller's cheque and took it the Edgware Road where we knew someone would be able to cash it."
For many people, Wanda inferred, her one day of being hungry can stretch into days, weeks and sometimes years. "Frankly, it's a disgrace in the modern world that this is the case in this country and that's why the work of City Harvest is so important and why we are so, so happy to be one of the partners to support you. We are as proud as possible to be part of this with you and I thank every one of the staff and volunteers at City Harvest for their work," she said.
For more information:
Tommy Leighton
Tel: +44 7773 428325
[email protected]