When Covid-19 struck back in March 2020, there was a huge increase in the number of people struggling to access food and basic goods.
Pembroke House moved fast to respond, setting up the Walworth Community Food Hub – an emergency food distribution operation – just days into the first lockdown. We quickly expanded to a six-day-a-week operation, and have been going strong ever since.
Each week, a team of volunteers sort and pack food parcels at our new community space, the Walworth Living Room. These parcels are then delivered by volunteer couriers – mostly by bike but with some on foot – to hundreds of local homes.
How you can get involved
If you’re currently receiving parcels from us and have a question, or would like to amend or cancel your deliveries, visit this page.
If you need support, please call Southwark Council’s Covid-19 support line on 0207 525 5000 (from 9am-5pm), or email covidsupport@southwark.gov.uk
If you could volunteer to pack food parcels or deliver them by bike or on foot, sign up here to register your interest and we’ll get in touch when we’re recruiting.
And if you could donate to support our work, you can do so here.
The Food Hub in numbers
Since March, the Walworth Community Food Hub has delivered 290 tonnes of food in 33,000 food parcels.
Four hundred volunteers have contributed 28,000 hours at Pembroke House since March. Our volunteer couriers have cycled over 100,000km.
And although the Hub is thankfully in less demand than at the height of the last lockdown, we’re still delivering to hundreds of families each week.
Thanks go to…
…an enormous number of organisations and individuals, including:
- FareShare, who donate food supplies to the Hub each week
- a huge range of other partner organisations, including many businesses from Walworth and further afield
- 40 partners who refer people to the Hub
- our volunteers
- Pembroke House’s donors and supporters
And of course the funders who’ve made the Walworth Community Food Hub possible:
- the National Lottery Coronavirus Community Support Fund (using government funds from The Office for Civil Society)
- Southwark Council
- the Southwark Community Response Fund (contributions from United St Saviour’s Charity, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, Southwark Charities, the Peter Minet Trust, Womble Bond Dickinson, British Land, St George The Martyr Charity, and local residents & businesses — coordinated by London Funders)
- the CAF Resilience Fund
- the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation
- WRAP
- the Newby Trust
- St George The Martyr Charity
- the Fishmongers’ Company
- the Skinners’ Company
- the Turners’ Company
- the Chartered Accountants’ Company
- the Goldsmiths’ Company
- the Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners
- the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers
- the Worshipful Company of Fletchers
- the Vintners’ Company
- the Masons’ Company Charitable Trust
- the Betty Messenger Foundation
- and the Cooks Livery Company
Thank you all!
