Charity Basket Brigade UK is asking for help identifying vulnerable families that need support, reports Louis Altmann

A volunteer at last year’s Basket Brigade UK event

A charity has pledged to deliver 1,000 food baskets to vulnerable people before Christmas – and is asking for help identifying North London families that need them.

Basket Brigade UK will be putting together the food hampers at Mulberry Academy Woodside in White Hart Lane, Tottenham, this Saturday (23rd) when hundreds of volunteers will come together to make the baskets.

The baskets will then be delivered to “thousands of unsuspecting families facing hardships throughout London”, according to volunteer Vanessa Fernandis.

Each food basket will contain the essentials for a high-quality, nutritious Christmas dinner. Vanessa said in the last five years, the charity had delivered over 5,500 baskets, reaching over 20,000 people.

Basket Brigade received charity status last year, but is still relatively small. Vanessa said: “We are self-funding, with all proceeds going towards the event and the purchasing [of] all the food we deliver.”

The charity relies on donations and need people’s support, as it costs £20,000 to run the Christmas campaign. Just £20 can feed a family of four. People wishing to donate can visit the Basket Brigade website and, where families can also be nominated to receive a basket using an online form.

Basket Brigade was inspired by the work of Tony Robbins, 63, an American author and philanthropist. The YES Group is a London-based organisation made up of people influenced by Robbins’ work and, in 1995, with the initiative of member Liane Pedro, the YES Group set up the first Basket Brigade event in the UK.

In the years since, it has grown to become an annual event in London. Its current leader is Giles Button. Internationally, Basket Brigade feeds approximately three million people and is run by the Tony Robbins Foundation.

Basket Brigade UK’s charitable objectives are “to relieve the need of individuals and families in the UK, who are experiencing poverty or financial hardship at Christmas time, by the provision of food parcels, via a distribution network, to enable those in need access to a
nutritious and substantial meal that they could not otherwise afford”.

For more information:
Visit basketbrigade.org.uk

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