Charities, volunteers and local businesses are coming together across London to provide homeless young people with nutritious meals during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ned, the hotel and members’ club in the City, and The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club, the creative community space and restaurant in Shoreditch, have teamed up with the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity Centrepoint to ensure that young people living in hostels across London are provided with at least one full meal every day.

A team of 42 members of staff from The Ned have been volunteering on alternative days and preparing the meals in the hotel’s production kitchen. Motorcyclists from The Bike Shed’s 1000-strong nationwide community of volunteer riders have been delivering over 100 meals a day to homeless young people living in Centrepoint hostels across town.

Fare Share, the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger and food waste, has been donating and delivering ingredients to The Ned, in order for their volunteer chefs to create dishes including bangers and mash, duck ragu with noodles, Mexican bean and tofu stew, and mushroom and vegetable soup. In addition to providing meals for Centrepoint, The Ned volunteer chefs are also making an additional 150 meals per day for homeless charity The Passage that support homeless people in Central London.

To ensure these meals get into the hands of those that need it most, all pick-up and deliveries to Centrepoint hostels are being organised and run by the ‘Bike Shed Community Response’ team – the nationwide task force of on-call, volunteer riders mobilised and managed by The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club staff. The vetted volunteer riders are comprised of The Bike Shed customers, members, and followers – all of whom have come together to provide vital support and free courier-like services to the vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis.

POWtv CEO and Centrepoint supporter, Rosemary Reed, introduced the opportunity for Centrepoint to benefit from this initiative with The Ned, in addition to donating the film crew used to produce and edit video coverage of the program in action.

Relevant stats— On average over 100 meals created by The Ned being delivered every day to Centrepoint hostels all over London, with an additional 150 meals going to The Passage hostels.
— Deliveries are made daily by motorcyclists from The Bike Shed’s volunteer task force called ‘Bike Shed Community Response’ – a 1,000-strong nationwide network of on-call volunteer riders made up of The Bike Shed customers, members, and followers.

Commentary
Isabel Rice, Senior Dietician, Centrepoint said,
“Hostels have been really excited and grateful to receive these lovely meals from The Ned. There has been a lot of concern from young people during the pandemic about not getting enough food. This is something many vulnerable young people struggle with anyway, so to add in factors like losing work, anxiety about the pandemic, struggling to get to shops, and supermarket shelves being empty, getting food support to those who need it has been vital.

“I’ve seen an increase in the number of young people in need of emergency food aid, as well as a general increase in people struggling. These meals have been a huge help, because it means the hostel can offer a healthy, home cooked meal to residents every day. I also really like that these are available to staff as well, who are working so hard to keep hostels running, it’s a small thank you to them.

“We are so grateful to the chefs at The Ned working hard every day to produce these meals, and to The Bike Shed for delivering them all over London for us – a logistical mission that would have been really difficult to achieve without them.”

Gareth Banner, Managing Director, The Ned said:
“With The Ned and Ned’s Club being closed for the time being, we’ve been working on ways to support our community and those most vulnerable in our local areas. It’s been brilliant working with Centrepoint, The Passage and Fare Share to give back at this tumultuous time. We’re also grateful to The Bike Shed for stepping in with an excellent delivery solution.”

Vikki van Someren, CCO & Co-Founder, The Bike Shed Motorcycle Club said:
"The Bike Shed and motorcycle community have always been strong and socially responsible, remaining connected even while our doors were closed. We are very pleased to be able to mobilise our volunteer riders at Bike Shed Community Response to work alongside The Ned in helping Centrepoint UK get much-needed food to the homeless and vulnerable in our community."

Claudette Dawkins, Head Chef at The Passage said:
"This pandemic has hit homeless people especially hard so we are incredibly grateful to The Ned for supporting our Food Hub by providing us with delicious and nutritious meals for vulnerable people daily. Their kindness and willingness to go the extra mile has made all the difference. Since the outbreak, we have supported hundreds of rough sleepers into safe and supported emergency accommodation but our priority now is to ensure that they remain safe, have enough to eat over the coming weeks and do not return to the streets.Thank you to The Ned for helping us with this vital frontline response."