When Felix was just 10 and playing in a football tournament, he told his father he'd been upset to learn that many of the boys on the opposing team hadn't eaten that day – this stuck with Justin.

Sadly, in 2014 Felix died suddenly from meningitis aged only 14.

In his memory, his family created a charity from a garage aiming to support hungry Londoners.

In the 11 years since its creation, the Felix Project is now London's largest food redistribution charity, providing 38 million meals in 2024.

In the last 12 months, The Felix Project has supported almost 30,000 people and 107 organisations across Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow.

The charity is now calling for the government to formulate tax policies which would help charities like The Felix Project get more food on people's tables.

'We wouldn't survive without it'

The Felix Project works extensively with the food industry, including retailers such as Ocado and Sainsbury's, to collect surplus stock no longer needed by the companies.

This is then taken to one of its depots and sorted for redistribution to food banks.

The food arrives at depots through a combination of suppliers delivering directly and volunteers collecting food from suppliers. In Acton, it's hub metamorphosizes into a distribution centre for community organisations.

Speed is critical to the operation in Acton. A lot of the food brought in has a short shelf life, making it critical to get it out to families as quickly as possible. This means that food that comes in is frequently distributed and on plates the same day.

Karen is a volunteer for Hillingdon Pentecostal which holds seven food banks per week. These food banks are supplied by The Felix Project, and feed around 650 families per week.

Karen said: "The Felix Project is amazingly helpful, without them there would be many hundred more hungry people, we wouldn't survive – it's our sole supplier… we see a lot of people bringing their children now to the food bank, it varies a lot but there are definitely more people coming."

'People have to choose between food and toothpaste'

In the last few years, The Felix Project has begun to diversify what it supplies to food banks. This includes providing hygiene products, such as toothpaste and shampoos.

Charlie Neal, a communications manager for the charity, told the LDRS that they are seeing a large increase in children with dental problems because they often go without toothpaste – often described as dental poverty. Charlie pushes back against sub-categorising poverty, arguing that the foot cause is financial desperation.

"23 per cent of working families are going to food banks, and that's just the working people…people have to choose what is essential.

There is no such thing as dental poverty or youth poverty – it's all poverty. Toothpaste becomes 'non-essential' because of the need for food, so people go without.

"We are seeing a massive increase in kids with dental problems because people have to go without toothpaste because parents are having to make these impossible decisions. It's having a knock-on effect on people's confidence if they don't have clean clothes, clean hair, and so on."

'We would like to see the government do more'

The charity also works with farmers to collect stock which doesn't fit supermarket specifications, such as size or appearance, to redistribute to those in need.

Statistics indicate that there are 3.3 million tonnes of food wasted in UK farms before produce even leaves the farm. Often, farmers are paid to send this to animal feed, or for anaerobic digestion (creating biofuel).

Charlotte Hill OBE, CEO of The Felix Project and FareShare told the LDRS that the government should create new policies to incentivise companies to donate food to charities like The Felix Project.

"The most up to date WRAP figures reveal in 2023 the UK rescued and redistributed 191,000 tonnes of food, or the equivalent of 456 million meals.

This may sound like a lot but in reality, it is less than 1% of the surplus food available.

"One of the many policies that could make this figure higher is changes to the Corporation Tax regime. We would like to see the Government give food businesses corporation tax relief when they donate food.

Currently companies get tax relief for donating money, land, property and equipment or trading stock, they even get it if they donate employee time, but nothing for food."

She added: "Where this incentive exists in other countries it has resulted in higher levels of food donations. So we believe it would make a difference here and mean The Felix Project and FareShare can rescue and redistribute more food and ultimately ensure we can be there to feed more people experiencing food insecurity."