Lucy Parish hadn’t thought she was an ideas person – until she began working for a Norwich social enterprise which helps hundreds of the city’s poorest people.

She was soon bursting with ideas for The Feed - although her ultimate aim is for its projects not to be needed at all.

Today she is chief executive of the innovative project which uses food to fund its work with homeless people - running five cafes and canteens and a catering business.

“It is always about food. We are passionate about food and passionate about people,” said Lucy.

The Feed began as a stall on Norwich market, selling food to make money to help homeless and vulnerable people. Its staff and volunteers now run the cafes and catering to support a community fridge food bank, hot evening meals for the homeless and hungry, well-being, budgeting and cookery courses, and, from this summer, a new social supermarket where members will be able to buy food and household essentials for around a quarter of the normal price – and get fruit and veg for free.

“The Feed aims to prevent poverty, hunger and homelessness in Norwich,” said Lucy.

Last autumn the magnificent pavilion at Waterloo Park, Norwich, opened its doors as The Feed café. It has been hugely popular, serving lunches, snacks, cakes and drinks in the elegant interior and out on the terrace overlooking the gardens.

Every customer enjoying a drink, snack or meal is helping local people out of poverty. Every penny spent on a cup of tea or slice of cake helps fund a mission to end hunger and homelessness.

“Some people come because we are The Feed, others because it’s a very popular place and it’s a bonus that the money goes to a good cause.”

And as well as all the profits going to The Feed, the café also nurtures people back into employment with a range of volunteer and work experience roles.

Alongside the Waterloo Park café, The Feed runs a café and community fridge in Prince of Wales Road, a café at the Mind mental health crisis centre in Churchman House (once the Registry Office) which is also open to the public, plus canteens for Norwich University of the Arts and Kettle Foods. “Kettle Foods has been a really big supporter,” said Lucy.

The Feed also helps cook and serve daily city centre hot meals to people without access to food or a place to cook, and this summer will open a social supermarket providing heavily discounted food, plus cookery lessons, kitchen equipment and money and employment advice.

Lucy, the daughter of two primary school teachers, grew up in Blofield, near Norwich. Throughout her childhood she thought she would teach too, but changed her mind at 18. She moved to Manchester and worked as an estate agent and mortgage advisor before retraining in financial planning and accountancy.

“It was fine, but it didn’t fill me with joy,” she said. “I didn’t joyfully go to work every morning like I do now.”

By now she had a young child and returned to Norwich in her 30s to be closer to her family. It was an appointment with an acquaintance who worked in recruitment that led her to a job as a corporate fundraiser with The Feed.

“I had never done fundraising but, through networking, I had a lot of connections with other organisations in Norwich,” she said.

“I absolutely loved the job and all of a sudden I found the confidence that I’d wanted for so many years. I came up with ideas, ‘Why don’t we do this and that?’ It was the first time people were saying, ‘What a great idea!’ I’d always thought I wasn’t an ideas person. It was really empowering.

Lucy said her financial training had been very helpful in her role with The Feed. “My background has always been money,” she said. “It’s not that I love money but I love working with people.

“I have always been empathetic. If someone starts crying I will cry.

“Sometimes it can be quite overwhelming if you think about the bigger picture. But I don’t feel overwhelmed all the time, I often feel quite cross! I think there is a distinct lack of empathy, and so many people make judgements about people. It makes my blood boil.

“It is possible to sort homelessness but it’s about all organisations working together to take a person-centred approach – statutory and voluntary, community and social enterprise.

“There are a lot of people who need a lot of support. About 95pc of the people we work with have significant trauma.

“Just providing food is not the answer.

“Feeding homeless people can be an easy way of supporting someone, but it can be detrimental too. We want to see people moving on from having to use free food.

“The food bank’s mission is to not exist. It’s the same for us, especially in most of the food provision.”

Instead she wants to give people access to good quality cheap food and ensure they can use it to provide nutritious meals.

The Feed also tackles the causes of poverty and hunger by helping people into jobs and training.

“Everything we do works towards our vision of a community free from poverty,” she said.

As the country went into the first lockdown in March 2020 Lucy feared everything that had been built up to help vulnerable people across the city would be lost.

“It was pretty awful. We had to close our cafes. Our catering work was our revenue so how were we going to survive?

“From a personal perspective I had found this job that I love and how were we going to survive. We had children aged 11,12 and 13.”

The furlough scheme came as a huge relief – but then she realised The Feed could keep working.

“We were really conscious that people were going to need more support around access to free food,” said Lucy.

Soon staff were back at work, funded by local authority Covid grants to deliver food to people who had been moved into emergency accommodation.

In summer 2020 The Feed opened a community fridge at its Prince of Wales Road café. The food is donated by local supermarkets, food shops and other businesses and individuals and might otherwise go to waste. Last year it gave more than 4,000 food parcels to families, working people, pensioners, people with homes and people living in hostels.

As the cost-of-living crisis bites there are now regularly queues before it opens and Lucy said: “Increasingly we are being asked for things that won’t cost money to cook.”

When she joined The Feed it had just five members of staff. A year ago there were 12. Now there are 50 – supporting more and more people out of hunger and homelessness.

And it is easy to help. “Follow us on social media, share our posts, visit our café, order from our corporate catering,” said Lucy.

thefeed.org.uk


WHAT IS A SOCIAL SUPERMARKET?

The Feed’s Social Supermarket opens in the old Pat’s Café on Hall Road, Norwich, on July 1.

Aimed at people who have previously had to use emergency food provision, it will have free membership giving members access to heavily discounted food and cleaning equipment, plus completely free fruit and vegetables. It will also provide cookery lessons and equipment and budgeting and employment advice and experience.

“It’s a more dignified way to access food than a food bank. It’s not means tested. People are not restricted to a certain number of items,” said Lucy. “Rather than having to use food parcels it is addressing the reasons why somebody might need that help. Our staff will get to know people.”

The supermarket shelves will be stocked with surplus food bought via the food redistribution charity, Fareshare and other organisations, including food which would have otherwise gone to waste. The Feed will also work with local farmers and manufacturers to obtain surplus and misshapen food and items with damaged packaging or close to ‘best before’ (but never past the ‘use by’) dates.

There will also be a community fridge providing free emergency food.


WHAT DOES THE FEED DO?

Fundraising projects include The Feed café at Waterloo Park, the Mind café at Churchman House, a café and community fridge on Prince of Wales Road, the Kettle Foods staff canteen, the Norwich University of the Arts staff and student canteen, and a catering business.

Projects to help tackle hunger and homelessness in Norwich include supported work experience in the cafes and catering business for people who have been out of work for a long time; helping people with a history of offending and armed services veterans into training, education and employment; a wellbeing programme for women with activities ranging from breadmaking to discussions on positive relationships; and working with Pathways Norwich, alongside other organisations including Norwich City Council, churches and charities, to prevent rough sleeping and provide a hot meal for vulnerable people without cooking facilities or food, every evening.