Leslie said: “Our numbers are going up and up. I get texts saying ‘I need food’ – really heartrending messages.”
Granville Community Kitchen has begun providing food for residents once again after an outbreak of Covid-19 forced it to close for a week.
The kitchen, in Carlton Vale, is run by volunteers and acts as a food hub for the South Kilburn area.
It reopened on Wednesday (January 6) and people can book a collection time to come in and receive a bag of food on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Volunteer drivers drop off food to those who cannot come in.
Co-founder Leslie Barson, who herself caught the virus, said: “We realised how we’re just as vulnerable as other people – or perhaps more, because we’re having to work through the pandemic.”
She continued: “We do try to keep social distance, we have low numbers. We have two teams so that if one goes down the other won’t get it…but we’re not immune. Everybody is at risk.”
It is the first time the community kitchen, which opened in March, has been hit by the virus and some volunteers are still isolating.
