Idia’s Community Kitchen is a small grassroots charity based in Hackney. Our main goal is to provide hot meals to all who visit us or are referred to us as well as passing on donations of food, clothes, toiletries and toys we receive from the community.

We are committed to preventing food waste and so collect food whose sell-by date is due to expire from stores, bakeries and cafes such as Coop, Tesco, Fabrique and Sabretooth. We use some of this to cook the hot meals but most of it is left on the donation tables for anyone in the community to take away free of charge. We also collect various non-perishable and fresh food items from one of the Council’s food hubs and receive donations of short-dated items and fresh food from Hackney Foodbank.

Our work has recently been recognised in national and local newspapers. Please see the links below.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/big-hearted-chef-turning-supermarket-22996877

https://www.caritaswestminster.org.uk/hoxton-community-kitchen-serves-best-food-in-the-east-end-1092.php

Our history

Aina has been feeding the homeless and hungry in East London for 18 years from her little trolley, along with her two daughters, Idia and Gosa. When Idia died tragically in 2007 from Typhoid fever, Aina first set up Idia’s Foundation. A charity supporting health, education and well-being projects in the Nigerian village, where Aina grew up and Idia sadly died and subsequently set up Idia’s Community Kitchen in her daughter’s memory.

Over the years she has built a community of volunteers and friends, especially in 2020 during the pandemic. Demand and need has been so great that the group is now active 7 days a week across multiple locations around Hackney feeding up to 300+ people a week. Aina works nonstop with no pay and little financial support and has managed this incredible feat by working with local supermarkets and bakeries and supporters, using their daily waste and donations to create delicious nutritious warm meals.

We have received funding and some support from Caritas via St Monica’s church and are known to Hackney Council who have referred a number of vulnerable people in need to us to receive food deliveries.

Idia’s Community Kitchen cannot achieve its goal alone; we need help from charitable individuals and companies like yours.

We would like to expand our offer of hot food and donations but also invite you to join us to whatever extent works for you.

We welcome you to visit us, cook with us, eat with us. We’re one big family! You would be very welcome to bring your team/family (as other supporters have done) and see the magic Aina has created in these strange and troubling times.

Your donation will help to cover the costs of:

· Buying fresh meat and fish to supplement our food donations;

· Buying food containers (with lids) to serve food safely;

· Paying towards renting and running a central base for Idia’s Community Kitchen for cooking and distributing various food, clothing, toiletries and toy donations;

· Paying a modest salary (London Living Wage (£10.85 per hour) for two cooks to prepare hot meals up to 7 days a week; and

· Paying towards a small electric van to collect donations from around Hackney and deliver food to the Hackney Council referrals.

I am pleased to announce we are now a registered Charity from the 5th May Number: 1194336. We will soon be able to gift-aid your donations.