Mike Wilson, Pembroke House’s Executive Director, recently appeared on ‘Love In Covid Times’, a podcast from Ratio (our learning and evaluation partner) and On Our Radar.

In his interview, Mike talked about how Pembroke House responded to the Covid-19 crisis, using its two primary assets – ‘a set of buildings and a set of relationships’ – to establish an emergency food distribution hub.

Mike also described how this crisis has exacerbated and revealed food insecurity – but that this problem wasn’t caused by Covid-19.

In 2019, 23% of adults and 17% of children in this borough had reportedly low or very low food security (Survey of Londoners): thousands of Walworth residents who were forced to skip meals, eat unhealthily, suffer hunger or resort to food banks, even in normal times.

So Mike described some of our aims for the future and how we’ll work with recipients, volunteers, businesses, charities and public-sector partners to tackle the root causes of food insecurity.

Ultimately, we want food to be something that can be celebrated and that brings the community together as equals.

Pembroke House has always worked like this. Our founders came to Walworth to work and live alongside the community and tackle pressing social issues together.

As we develop our plans over the coming months, we’ll stay true to this legacy, recognising that in building a better neighbourhood, we all have something to contribute and something to learn.

You can listen to the full podcast below:

For more podcasts tracking the impact of Covid-19 across the world, head over to talks.ratio.org.uk.