Thank you to our Lockdown Legends!
On 28th June Museum of Homelessness and Streets Kitchen wound up our COVID-19 #HomelessTaskforce lockdown operation.
From a borrowed community centre, the Popham Homeless Taskforce hub, our volunteers dispatched 8956 hot nutritious meals and care packs across Islington and Camden over a 13 week period.
Seven days a week we visited emergency accommodation and our friends on the streets supplying food, toiletries, essentials, referrals, support and friendship whilst many services were shut down.
This work is not over, but this is the end of one phase and we are reflecting with gratitude before we move to the next stage. This really was a WHOLE community effort and we would like to thank all the lockdown legends who contributed:
Homeless Taskforce partners Streets Kitchen, The Outside Project, Simon Community and Union Chapel.
Our volunteers Aedo, Alex G, Alex S, Becky, Bekki, Caroline, Claire, David, Dorne, Dorothy, Eliza, Emma, Gaia, Gemma, Helen B, Helen D, Hilary, Ian, Jacob, Kate, Kath, Kathy, Katie, Lainie, Laura, Leila, Lexy, Liza, Louise, Mackenzie, Marike, Mark, Mei, Morgan, Nazia, Oliver, Opportune, Ovidui, Rachel F, Rachel S, Rebecca, Reece, Rona, Sara, Sharon, Simon, Siobhan, Sue, Susie, Tigs, Tina, Tom, Veronica, Vicky, Yousif, Zaid
Islington Council, who lent us the Popham and Cummings Community centre for our hub.
Our funders The Linbury Trust, Oak Foundation, Rede Partners, Arsenal Community Foundation, Lund Trust, Quaker Homeless Action, St James Trust and many very generous individuals.
Large businesses who helped were Greggs, British Gas, Faith in Nature & BOL.
Local businesses who helped were City Pantry, Muswell Hill Bikes, Hampstead Butchers, Greens of Highgate, My Home Cleaning N1 and Steve Hatt Fishmongers.
Community groups/grassroots/charities who helped were; Calverts, Fenton House (National Trust), The Arc, Street Storage, The Magpie Project, Greenpeace, Housing Justice, Tricky Period, St Mary’s Ward Mutual Aid, St Peter’s Ward Mutual Aid, N4 Cutting Club, Daikon Zine, Castlehaven Community Centre, With1Voice, Liberty, the Pavement, the Baby Docs (UCL medical students) Food For All and StreetVet.
Our journalism special mention goes to Hannah Westwater at the Big Issue who significantly amplified our campaign for the Mildmay hospital to be reopened and for hotel room provision in the beginning of the pandemic and covered our journey all the way through lockdown.
The fight is not over. We are very sad to say we are preparing for a huge increase in homelessness as 2020 continues to unfold. We are currently seeking a new base where we can continue our direct work and award winning campaigning and restart our cultural and heritage work.
In the meantime, we will keep a (reduced) operation going at street level working with our grassroots partners in North London and continue to campaign as an independent voice of our homeless community.