Furloughed chefs and volunteers cook 1,200 meals for Londoners this Christmas

By Owen Sheppard, local democracy reporter

A network of furloughed chefs and volunteers have been on a mission to cook 1,200 meals for Londoners who need help before Christmas.

Furloughed Foodies are sending out festive deliveries of veggie roast dinners to households across Kensington and Chelsea.

One of its founders, Chloe Hall, 27, grew the grassroots organisation during the first lockdown to a point where it was feeding NHS staff at 15 London hospitals.

Ms Hall, who lives in Holland Park said: “All the way back in April I was working for a tech start-up and was furloughed.

“An old housemate asked if I wanted to help make food for NHS workers. We realised lots of people who were furloughed had nothing to do. We decided to make an Instagram account and the Furloughed Foodies website.

“We were inundated with messages almost overnight and it snowballed.

“We raised £30,000 and had 500 volunteers in total, often helping for stints of a few weeks. If they lived near a delivery location we would ask them to cook some meals, and a volunteer driver would take them to a hospital.”

The group took a break from the end of summer as the number of patients began to dwindle, and after Ms Hall found a new job.

But she and three organisers – Piers Cotte Jones, Will McFadden and Maia Ramzan – have restarted Furloughed Foodies for December, this time with the aim of helping families who will struggle to put food on the table.

Local charities that have been overwhelmed with demand have helped them identify households who will receive the Foodies’ home cooked dinners.

Outside of their own working hours, “whenever we can fit it in”, they have rounded up 40 volunteers and coordinated the operation via Zoom.

“This time because it’s on a smaller scale we reached out to specific organisations in West London,” said Ms Hall.

“A couple of them also reached out to us for help. The charities have identified 4,000 people who will struggle this month. These organisations are helping 10 times as many people now, they’re desperate.”

Among the local organisations are Rugby Portobello, the Dalgarno Trust, St Cuthbert’s Centre in Earl’s Court, and mental health-support charity SMART.

Ms Hall said the Furloughed Foodies hope to continue in January and are hoping to attract donations via their website to carry on the cooking.