A vegan charity and community cookery school has announced it will stop classes for now, and instead become a free food home delivery service for vulnerable people.

Made In Hackney, which has won awards for its community work, normally offers a free program of community cookery classes, skills training, and celebration parties to empower vulnerable people with the skills to lead healthier, happier more connected lives.

Having to shut down its programs, Made In Hackney realized, will have a devastating impact on the people – including young carers, adults with educational needs, women’s refuge residents and more – who use its services.

Free service

In a bid to provide much-needed support and help to these people, the Made In Hackney team hatched a plan to ’empower the cookery school to serve at risk community members’ by delivering free, nourishing food to their door. In addition, the courier who delivers the food will check to see how people are coping and if they need any extra support. It plans to serve Hackney and possibly surrounding boroughs.

“This is an emergency. There is a very real risk of our most vulnerable community members going hungry and becoming extremely isolated. If we can’t teach cookery classes – then we need to get nourishing food delivered to the people who need it most another way,” Made In Hackney founder Sarah Bentley said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.

The charity has launched a crowdfunder to pay for these plans, and is aiming to raise £30,000, saying: “We need each other now – let’s come together to make this happen.”

Find out more about the emergency crowdfunder here