“You Donate… We Deliver” provides over 2,000 meals per day to frontline workers

Image credit: Jo Russell Photography

“You Donate… We Deliver” (YDWD) is a UK-based initiative that delivers cooked meals and other essential items to medical workers in London and Hertfordshire. Today, the project is an enormous community effort, with 11 regional hubs and a network of chefs delivering hot meals to frontline workers, yet when Sarah Laster and Katie Commissar Icklow first started out, they had a far humbler goal: Laster noted that “it primarily came out of a need of a sister and of a family friend”. 

Image credit: Jo Russell Photography

Laster’s sister is a Registrar at the Royal Free Hospital, and Commissar Icklow has a family friend working in an ICU. Once COVID-19 became a serious concern in the UK, it quickly became clear to them that the situation was forcing frontline workers to compromise on their meals. Laster noted that in a short half an hour lunch break, medical staff were expected to get out of the cumbersome PPE, get to a canteen, and wait in socially-distanced lines with each person at least 2 metres apart. If they were able to get food, they rarely had time to eat it, and this assumed that they could even take a lunch break. Laster and Commissar Icklow decided that anything, even “sandwiches and a bit of chicken soup”, delivered to their family, friends, and other hospital workers, would go a long way to help them make it through their long working days and boost morale at the frontline.

YDWD now has more than 2,400 members in its Facebook group, eagerly contributing to help feed frontline workers in London and Hertfordshire. Each day, the team deliver 2,180 hot meals per day to 31 wards across 25 hospitals and 2 care homes. They also prepare 300 sandwich snack bags each day for paramedics at 3 ambulance bases. The project is not limited to meals: YDWD has also provided 6 fridges to hospital wards, provided coffee pods, and has recently delivered hand cream and lip balm packages to those at the frontline (“that was a request we got a lot - PPE would leave their hands and faces ripped to shreds”). 

YDWD also helps foster community spirit among those who might feel a little lost during these times. Laster noted that “whilst we are doing lovely things for the NHS, we are also doing something really lovely for our community.” Laster has seen the impact that YDWD has had on giving people purpose, and speaks fondly of the various local groups she has seen that aim to help those particularly vulnerable during these times: “I think being part of something bigger creates connections and gives you a reason to keep going.” This engagement is more than evident on YDWD’s social media, which has given birth to a number of other initiatives. One such project is the “Sharing Smiles - Write to the NHS” initiative, started by Laura Bloomberg, which encourages children to write lighthearted messages to doctors and nurses working in COVID-19 wards (you can take part in this until 25 May, by sending your letters to sharingsmiles2020@gmail.com).

Image credit: Jo Russell Photography

Image credit: Jo Russell Photography

This work by the YDWD team does not come without sacrifice. The first time I contacted Commissar Icklow, she was in the middle of receiving a number of deliveries. Later, I spoke to Laster while she made labels (providing allergen information on the meals). Throughout the conversation, I could hear deliveries constantly arriving and leaving on the other end of the line. Laster and Commissar Icklow regularly work 15 hour days, starting at 8.30am and going long into the evening, consisting of receiving and packing deliveries, making labels, sorting and preparing food, organising the 11 regional hubs, and much more. It is, in Laster’s own words, a “massive physical operation”. Recently, the team at YDWD sent out a questionnaire to local hospitals asking for what they will need, and while Laster said that they do plan to wind down one day, they don’t see that happening anytime soon.

I asked Laster what kept her going through those long, hectic days. She did not hesitate with her response. She spoke of the many frontline workers who had reached out to YDWD for help and were grateful to the project. “We get messages like that every day. There is a need, and we know there is a need there. And it is not not an option. These guys are saving our lives, our families’ lives, our friends’ lives. Yes, we might be doing a lovely thing, but we are not the people sweating in PPE. [...] And yes, what we do is hard; but compare that to watching someone die on a ventilator - I don’t think there’s a question of whether we carry on.”

YDWD has raised more than £93,000 (all of which goes into the costs of food, deliveries, and other essential supplies for frontline workers). With the help of a local synagogue, all donations via their Virgin Giving Page (below) are eligible for Gift Aid. The team at YDWD are quick to emphasise that no one should feel that they cannot give enough, for whatever they can give will help. “We [at YDWD] are just a group of four normal people doing normal stuff. [...] It is not the big things that make the biggest difference; it is the collection of the small things making the biggest difference.” 

Image credit: Jo Russell Photography

Image credit: Jo Russell Photography

If you would like to donate to YDWD, you can do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/YouDonateWeDeliver. You can also find regular updates from their team on their instagram: @youdonatewedeliver.