Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District were delighted to welcome two great speakers on 23 June. The headline was for them to tell us about their work addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 “Zero Hunger” https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2. and they completely engaged the audience by covering that and so much more!
First up was Raihaanah Ahmed, founder of the St Albans Community Pantry https://stalbanscommunitypantry.org/, followed by Molly Leigh-Moy from the charity Mary’s Meals https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/. Two charities supporting vulnerable people in different parts of the world, with a lot in common.
DONATIONS: There was no charge for this special event and if you wish to make a donation to these two wonderful charities then details of how to donate are on this page of our website: https://sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/donate/. Please understand that there is no pressure to do this. All donations will be split between the charities.
Raihaanah Ahmed – told us about the development of the St Albans Community Pantry, that she founded to close the loop between food waste and food insecurity. It’s complicated and the best way to try to understand is to watch this award winning video https://youtu.be/TFd6VqvaUpU. In addition to SDG2 “Zero Hunger” the charity addresses SDG3 “Good Health and Wellbeing”, SDG10 “Reduced Inequalities”, SDG11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities” and SDG13 “Climate Action”. We had last heard from Raihaanah in 2021 when we were in lockdown https://sigbi.org/st-albans/2021/26-jul/. A lot 
has happened since then – including Raihaanah becoming a local Councillor. She had plenty to tell us, and there were plenty of questions too (as always!). With growing demand for their services, the charity is always looking for volunteers, so please do get in touch if you would like to help.
Raihannah describes herself as an accidental social activist and someone who is concerned about food security.
During lockdown she became aware that lots of families were coming to the youth club and were only able to get a hot meal at the weekend. She shared this message that she could help with essentials. This went on from weeks to months and she realised that she couldn’t sustain it on her own but others got involved. Raihaanah was motivated by the experiences of those she met to find out more about food poverty. She discovered that there seemed to be no personal dignity if you were in this situation. You would apply for a voucher for food and would be asked a lot of questions. You would then collect the food with little interaction and there would be restrictions as to how much you could have. Food security was being masked by the richer residents of St Albans.
St Albans Community Pantry grew out of this. It is non-judgmental, you don’t have to fill in a form and you can choose what food you want. Food is now collected as meals from 3 restaurants, from local suppliers, supermarkets and stores. Food is available for any that need it including professionals who would not normally qualify but whose financial state is such that they can’t afford to feed themselves and their families. No questions are asked.
Community Meals help educate groups about food wastage and being eco-friendly. One of the projects has students from Watling View helping with meals at Harvester’s Court. There are pockets of help in and around St Albans. 20,000lbs of food waste has been utilised by this project.
Raihaanah told us about the awards she has received locally The Mayor’s Award, the President’s Award (Chamber of Commerce), the Film Award.
She doesn’t know what the future will bring but she is doing her best to help people. She feels they need to adapt and be fluid to work with the needs of the community.
It began with family and now has 70 volunteers. The Community Pantry is self-funding and receives no help from the local authority.
They have to move from their current premises by end Jan so their major project currently is to move to new premises which will be a massive undertaking. Community Pantry is looking for creative ideas for bringing money in.
Raihaanah explained that she became a Councillor because she wanted someone like her (young, female, a mother with a different culture) to be at the decision-making table. As a Parish Councillor for Sandridge she is working to reinvigorate Spencer Hall as a Community Hub.
There were lots of questions and as ever we were amazed by how much Raihaanah manages to achieve! An accidental social activist she may be, and a very effective one at that!
Molly Leigh-Moy told us about the charity Mary’s Meals https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/ serving nutritious school meals to children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. Molly pointed out that in addition to addressing SDG2 “Zero Hunger” the charity addresses SDG3 “Quality Education” because it addresses the simple fact that if children are hungry they can’t learn. If you click below you can go through the slides that Molly presented and also see the three short video testimonials from Beyonce in Zimbabwe, Lydia in Ethiopia and Mallak in Yemen (about 2.5 mins each).
If you click on this link you can read the excellent presentation notes that go with the slides Mary’s Meals Her Education Presentation Notes
Mary’s Meals has just launched a new campaign “Her Education” – vital at this time of the reduction of global aid to support girls in school. Molly said: ‘Our school feeding programmes encourage all children to attend school. Sadly, extreme poverty can leave parents with impossible choices and as a result, girls can face significant challenges in accessing education. In many of the countries where we work, girls are often expected to look after the household or other family members, they may have to work to ease financial burdens on the family, extreme poverty may force them into early marriage or teenage pregnancy. UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 is a commitment to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” This goal is a pivotal driver for positive change, emphasizing the transformative power of education in fostering a sustainable and equitable world, and is at the heart of our work at Mary’s Meals. Girls make up 50% of the children in school across our global programme. By providing a daily school meal, we are helping girls to overcome barriers to education, attracting them into the classroom with the promise of that daily meal. The girls who receive Mary’s Meals today can one day grow up, well-nourished and well-educated, to become the women who will lift their communities out of poverty.’
Jane asked what their income is. It is over £1 million in the UK, 93% going to charitable activities. They operate internationally and not in the UK. The team does a global scan and looks to where the need is. For instance India is now a richer country but many lower caste children are not in education formally. Jane offered to put Molly in contact with the Steve Sinnott Foundation – an Education charity support by the Club, and other Soroptimists, with some overlap in the countries where Mary’s Meals operates. Molly explained that their local partners do work with other aid giving organisations so may have come across the Steve Sinnott Foundation. Mary’s Meals only give support to providing food. Since the reduction in international aid, organisations such as Mary’s Meals have a larger part to play and offer low cost healthy food appropriate to the area. Due to their very low overheads a little goes a long way. They receive no funding from the UK government.
Sarah asked where is the fundraising done. It is mostly international and some come from countries where Mary’s Meals are active.
Mary’s Meals is also looking for volunteers to spread the word and raise funds to support them. It is a wonderful charity supported by many Soroptimist Clubs – their strap-line is “a simple solution to world hunger”. The “Her Education” programme is obviously of particular interest to Soroptimists. St Albans Soroptimists supported Mary’s meals back in 2015 https://sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/2015/backpacks/. A lot has changed in 10 years and it was wonderful to have such a detailed update.
Both speakers were praised highly by everyone who attended and given a massive thanks. If anyone would like to make a donation the details are on this page of our website https://sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/donate/.