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The cost of living crisis is biting hard, with rising fuel bills leaving London’s poorest residents with a stark choice between heating and eating. And that means that the work of Croydon’s JAGS Foundation is more essential than ever. Starting on Sunday February 20, its hardworking volunteers are doling out free dinners to some of the city’s most vulnerable residents as part of the Sunday Best campaign. They’re planning to serve up a whopping 3,150 meals over the course of a 12-week stint, feeding 65 households and six hostels.
JAGS Foundation was set up by Tracey Ford in memory of her son James Andre Godfrey Smartt-Ford, who was shot in front of 300 people at Streatham Ice Rink in 2007 while attending a friend’s birthday party. No one was ever charged. But JAGS Foundation has spent more than a decade supporting families who have seen a child killed, as well as running schools workshops to try and combat youth violence.
When lockdown hit in 2020 the charity’s focus shifted. From her work with local families, Ford knew that food insecurity was a real problem, so she started a scheme to deliver hot meals to those in need each Sunday. ‘Families are facing food hunger as a result of losing jobs,’ she says, ‘and living on less money to feed their families. Sunday Best has allowed families to enjoy an important meal together.’ And these aren’t just grey school dinner roasts, either: Ford and her team serve up tasty Caribbean-style meals to the tastes of the families they work with.
Although lockdown is now behind us, the crisis isn’t. The rising cost of living means that London families are still missing out on decent meals, and with them, a reason to come together and chat through the week’s events over a plate of hot food. It only costs Sunday Best a fiver to feed a family, but the benefits are incalculable.
Contribute to JAGS Foundation's Sunday Best scheme here.