Justin Byam Shaw, founder of food poverty charity The Felix Project, has been awarded an OBE in the King’s New Years Honours list for his services to the London community.
The charity redistributes fresh surplus food from supermarkets and restaurants to local charities tackling food poverty. It started with two food distribution vans in 2016 and has grown to the biggest charity of its type in London, supplying food for tens of millions of meals each year.
Mr Byam Shaw, who is a shareholder in The Independent, set up The Felix Project in memory of his son who passed away suddenly from meningitis at the age of 14.
He said: “I know it is customary to say this sort of thing, but the truth is that this honour reflects the work of our staff and 1,500 volunteers who feed 400,000 Londoners in need every week.”
In 2021, the charity supplied the equivalent of 30 million meals to over 1,000 front-line charities and food hubs for those in the capital who were affected by the Covid crisis.
It was earmarked to be a beneficiary of The Independent’s On the Breadline Christmas appeal and money pledged by King Charles to the campaign will be used to help the Felix Project supply fridges and freezers to hundreds of food charities in London.
The Independent and sister title The Evening Standard previously partnered with the Felix Project for our Help the Hungry appeal, which raised more than £10m to feed the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable people during the pandemic.
The Felix Project was able to quadruple deliveries to ensure thousands of low-income families, the elderly and the shielding were provided with food.
It also opened a social kitchen in Tower Hamlets, an area with some of the highest deprivation levels in the UK, to provide more than 1.5 million hot meals each year for those in need.
The charity has reported a huge surge in demand amid the cost of living crisis and now has a significant waiting list of organisations who have requested food.
It is the second time the charity’s work has been recognised, with Mr Byam Shaw’s wife, Jane, having been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s birthday 2022 honours list in June.
Six-year-old Summer loads up on fruit and vegetables for the school holidays thanks to the Felix Project
