When The Felix Projects visits, the place is bustling with activity, the chef is preparing a delicious stew and coconut pudding for the evening community meal, the café is full of people, including a father with his toddler, two older women chatting together, while a mum pops in with her daughter for an after-school snack. Around the corner, guests stock up for their weekly shop at the social supermarket, and in a separate area others sit with advisors.

Sufra, the community organisation in North West London, where Felix delivers food each week, reaches far beyond just food.  The food is a gateway to a multitude of other support services which are coordinated by Sufra, whether that’s offering debt advice, mental health support, housing support or something else. Frankly, who can address any of these challenges on an empty stomach?

Rajesh Makwana is Sufra’s Executive Director and is passionate about addressing poverty in Sufra’s home borough of Brent, which has one of the highest poverty ratings in the capital. He comments: “While it’s critical for us to provide emergency food aid to people who are desperately struggling to get through each week, food aid is not the solution to food insecurity. Over the past few years, we have seen the demand for our services go up and up - during the pandemic alone, demand increased by 330%. We urgently need to implement long-term solutions to ending poverty, which includes a more effective welfare system, higher minimum wages and affordable housing. In the meanwhile, we are here to provide nutritious food, help improve incomes and help prevent destitution – all in a supportive community setting.”

Makwana is a man who puts words into action and chairs the Food Strategy Steering Committee for Brent Council, which The Felix Project is also represented on. Sufra also runs Brent Food Aid Network, convening local organisations, sharing best practice and signposting local residents towards the right support. 

Makwana explains more: “We call the people that come to us guests as that reflects our ethos around hospitality, equality and sharing. The stories we hear every day are heartbreaking. There was an older homeless guy who came to us at Christmas who had just been robbed. By the time he got to us he was so exhausted he fell asleep in our office. Our advice team desperately tried to find him a bed for the night, but we couldn’t. We did eventually help him, but it was a miserable Christmas knowing that he had to spend even one more night on the streets.”

Makwana then becomes more upbeat: “But we also see tears of joy when we help somebody. You often see it during the school holidays when parents are really struggling to afford the extra food needed for the week. There is such a stigma attached to going to a food bank but when people realise that they can get help, food, advice and meet with our volunteers who they can relate to, we often see tears of relief. It’s very moving.”

The Felix Project is responding to the increase in demand that Sufra is seeing and recently increased its surplus food deliveries to 1,500kg each week. Felix delivers this food to two separate Sufra sites, the first is a traditional food bank, the second is a social supermarket where customers pay £4 per week and can shop for food, based on a star system. Each customer is allocated 22 stars a week, for example a pack of nappies is worth four stars and a tin of tomatoes is worth one star, a bag of fresh fruit and veg is included for free. The supermarket is bustling with parents with small children, giving them the dignity to shop for their food, but at a very reduced price. 

Helen Stanley, Community Partnerships Manager at The Felix Project explains the rationale behind working with organisations like Sufra: “Sufra is exactly the type of community organisation that The Felix Project wants to work with, where their work reaches far beyond just food. We know that if someone is experiencing food insecurity, that will be the symptom of other issues, whether that’s struggling to get back into work, debt, addiction, mental health challenges, or something else. We want to work with organisations that are addressing the root cause of the problem, not just the symptoms.”

Stanley continues: “We also know that people tend to trust our community organisation partners more than, say, an official public body. That’s why forward-thinking Boroughs, like Brent Council, are working more closely with community hubs delivering outreach services within more comfortable and trusted settings, like Sufra. We know that people are far more likely to take advice in a trusted setting, than a letter in the post telling them to go to their GP.” 

Makwana concludes by sharing his thoughts on the importance of the food that he receives from Felix: “Community food aid services like Sufra’s would not be able to exist if it wasn’t for the regular donations of food that Felix provide every week, without fail. Thankfully, Felix’s deliveries are always regular and reliable, allowing us to plan services effectively over the long term. Due to this regularity, we were able to provide nutritious food to 14,000 people last year alone. Fresh fruit and veg is a real hit with our guests and provide key ingredients for our community kitchen meals.

If we didn’t receive Felix’s food, we would spend a small fortune purchasing similar items for our guests, to ensure families receive the right variety of food with sufficient nutritional value. The money we save helps us cover essential costs that are almost impossible to fundraise for – like admin and finance staff.”