Acton Central Food Drive Brings in 1 Tonne of Items
Station staff were talking part in the City Harvest Festival
David Cranstoun and Pauline Lawler outside the station
November 28, 2023
Last month members of staff at the London Overground station at Acton Central took part in a food drive as part of the City Harvest Festival.
Led by local TfL workers David Cranstoun and Pauline Lawler, the volunteer work and food drive collected over 1 tonne of long shelf-life items for City Harvest to redistribute to those needing free food.
The drive was based at Acton Central, which is the one nearest to City Harvest’s base, but awareness of the initiative was raised at other stations, including Willesden Junction and South Acton.
The festival aims to help alleviate pressure for those who can’t access good food this autumn.
City Harvest Festival, as a whole, raised nearly 8 tonnes of food to be redistributed to community partners feeding those facing food poverty. The team at Acton Central collected enough food from staff and the public for 250 meals for those without.
David and Pauline championed the food drive after visiting City Harvest and becoming aware of rising food poverty in London.
Seeing the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on his local area, David wanted to do something to help. The Acton Central team concluded its contribution of over 100kg long-shelf-life food, by volunteering in at the City Harvest Acton HQ.
“We visited City Harvest and were so impressed with the facilities there and what they do, that we wanted to do it at our station.” said Station Delivery Manager Pauline.
Customer Host David added, “I’m a local member of a Methodist church, and every time there is an event about distributing food, you see a long list of people coming to take food. That really shows that there’s a lot of poverty in London, the queue is long enough to tell you: “Yes, people are suffering.”
David Cranstoun takes donations at the new collection point
City Harvest was founded in 2014, forming London's first food redistribution charity.
City Harvest vans cover greater London and beyond, delivering free surplus food to families making the desperate decision between heating their homes and feeding their families. Their 375+ partner charities include food banks, schools, hostels, soup kitchens, community centres, faith groups, and refuges.
You can find out more about how you can support the food redistribution charity by clicking here.
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