Feeding the Hungry

Tackling Food Poverty

The government’s austerity programme means that benefits are being cut, poverty is on the increase, and many families are currently living below the breadline.

As a result, food poverty naturally has risen. Many families in London are having to get their meals through foodbanks, as their income will not stretch to buy them enough to eat.

According to the Child Poverty Action Group, “London has the highest rates of child poverty of any English region”. But despite Islington having the highest rate of child poverty in the capital, it is still one of the leading boroughs helping people who are struggling to feed themselves.

As stated in Beyond the Food Bank, ‘in 2017 and 2016 Islington was one of the top five boroughs in tackling food poverty’.

Islington is one of the top leading boroughs because “there is a lot of activity across the ten measures of what councils are doing to tackle food poverty,” said Simon Shaw, a spokesperson for Sustain, which runs the London Food Poverty Campaign.

Sustain publishes a yearly food poverty profile, which takes an in-depth look at what London boroughs are doing to make sure their residents are fed. Called ‘Beyond the Food Bank’, it scores boroughs across London – using a series of ten measurements – to see how rate their performance in helping eradicate hunger in their area.

Here are the 10 measures:

For further information:

In addition to this, the borough of Islington also have a variety of initiatives in place to feed and support those who are hungry. All are working to tackle food poverty within the borough:

For further details on these organisations visit:

• Islington Foodcycle:
• Islington Foodbank:
• Central Street Café:
• St Luke’s Trust:
• Breakfast Stop: 
• Women at the Well:

 

These are just a few there are other organisations in the borough who strive to feed the hungry and provide additional services.