More than 40,000 families in London will benefit from the capital’s first ‘multibank’, in an initiative backed by Amazon and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Co-ordinated by The Felix Project, it will see more than 400,000 surplus essential goods such as toiletries and bedding donated over the next year.
The surplus will be distributed to teachers, social workers and other groups working directly with those struggling to afford basic necessities.
The first facility opened in 2022 in Fife, Scotland, after Brown led a project to help tackle high levels of poverty and deprivation in his local area, with a Multibank Fund established using £1m of seed funding from Amazon and Comic Relief.
Others have since launched in Greater Manchester and Swansea.
Felix’s multibank in London will build on its established work of redistributing surplus food that would otherwise have gone to waste, through a network of charities, schools and community groups.
It has signed up a raft of distribution partners. The project is also being supported by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who has committed £250,000 to help with running costs for the London site.
Amazon has helped to establish the warehouse operations, with five Amazon employees to work on-site for the first year of operation, and the company is to provide logistics support to transport the donations to community organisations across London.
The online giant has already donated over 10 million meals to help The Felix Project fight hunger in London over the past four years, and provides drivers and vans to transport food donations across London every week.
“Every day The Felix Project is helping to provide healthy and nutritious meals to people in need across London, but we know it’s not just food they want,” said Charlotte Hill, CEO of The Felix Project.
“For those on low incomes all items are a struggle to afford, from toiletries and cleaning products to bedding and other household goods. Thanks to this incredible partnership, Felix’s multibank will be able to ensure our network of community organisations can provide more of the things people need and, just as importantly, prevent perfectly usable items from going to waste.”
Brown said: “As I go round the country, I find too many children growing up in homes without heating, bedrooms without beds, floors without floor coverings, kitchens without kitchen utensils and bathrooms without soap, shampoo or toothpaste.
“Having gained experience from the benefits to families of our multibanks in Scotland, the north west of England and Wales, we are delighted now to work with The Felix Project, who have such a strong reputation for doing good in the capital.
“Felix’s multibank will be able to take a holistic view of the overall need of the families they serve and provide some of the non-food basics for those in greatest need across London.”
Amazon UK country manager John Boumphrey said: “Since 2020, we have supported The Felix Project’s mission to fight food waste and hunger with more than 10 million meals, as well as vans and drivers to transport food to Londoners in need every week.
“Through Felix’s multibank, we will help many more vulnerable families across London by providing surplus essentials from Amazon and other businesses to those who need them most.
“We’ve already supported more than 400,000 families from our existing multibanks, giving those experiencing poverty access to the essentials they need while contributing to a more circular economy.”
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