In a moment of madness, I have decided to commit to doing a 24-hour sponsored fast to raise money for Alexandra Rose Charity, where I’ve worked for the last year and a half. That’s 24 hours with no food and only water and black coffee to drink.

I’m doing the fast from 12.30pm on Thursday 1st December, until 12.30pm Friday 2nd December.

Of course, this will be a challenge for me. I love food and cooking is one of my favourite things. It is still ultimately a choice. That’s not the case for many people right now. People are going without food so their family can eat and so they can keep the heating on. From my recent visit to Everton food pantry, I have seen first hand how food banks are serving a stream of people that haven’t eaten enough for several days with food that is leftover from supermarkets. It was hard to see people (3 out of 4 women) making the choice to put back hygiene products for food and to hear families saying they will cook less veg because it uses up too much energy.

At Alexandra Rose Charity, we support families on low incomes with young children to give their kids a healthy diet with a reliable source of fresh fruit and veg from local markets and independent retailers. Too many children are missing out on this due to the cost of living crisis.

Find out more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/22/fresh-fruit-and-veg-given-to-low-income-families-in-uk-trial

So please donate a little if you can and support me to raise as much as possible.

Anything you donate will be doubled because I am doing this fundraiser at the same time as the Big Give, a match-funding campaign.

£6 provides a family with fruit and veg for a week
£26 provides a family with fruit and veg for one month
£78 provides a family with fruit and veg for 3 months
£312 provides a family with fruit and veg for a whole year.