Help The Hungry: ‘Someone delivering for me each day makes me feel less isolated’

The £5.5m we have raised so far has empowered our appeal partner The Felix Project to quadruple its daily output of meals

Received with thanks: Nigel Howat, 79, accepts his food parcel from Clarence Chodokufa (Nigel Howard)

“Sometimes I just want to scream,” said Judith Olley, describing how she’s coped with spending two months in her small flat in Clapton – entirely alone. “I feel like I have been keeping a lid on my feelings for so long. I feel so angry, isolated, desperate to talk to someone. I have been contacting people I lost touch with a long time ago, just to have someone to talk to.”

Ms Olley, who is 73 and has no television and only last week bought a computer, said staying in her London home of 40 years was having an impact on her physically.

“I am beginning to feel old,” she said. “I sit on the sofa and don’t move much, so you feel like an old lady. You see people out and about and you’re stuck inside. You want to go out but I have been feeling fearful about coronavirus because of my age. You see people outside and think, ‘How come they get to go out? Why can’t I?’”

For many people over 70 who have been told to self-isolate, the pandemic has been a mental and physical challenge. For some, it has also meant extra anxiety of being unable to access food easily.

Ms Olley has come to rely for her daily meals on a doughty little charity called Made in Hackney, a cookery school delivering food supplied by our appeal partner, The Felix Project. The charity supplies 500 nutritious meals a day to the borough’s most vulnerable and nearly half its beneficiaries are over 70. Although the service was due to stop on 17 June, it is fundraising so the team can continue.

Ms Olley, who does not live near to her only family – a son who lives in Hertfordshire – said that getting adequate food was “stressful” at the start of lockdown. “You just couldn’t get [online delivery] slots. So I didn’t know how I would be able to get food. Knowing I would get at least one meal a day from Made in Hackney was amazing.”

She added: “Knowing that someone would come to my house and see if I was dead or alive every day – it sounds bad, but it is reassuring. The volunteers have been wonderful. They ring you occasionally to check in as well.”

Another Made in Hackney beneficiary is Nigel Howat, 79, a former sightseeing bus company boss who has lived in his Hackney housing association accommodation for more than 20 years.

Due to his age, he sometimes struggles to breathe. He also has a gluten intolerance, with wheat products making him violently ill. While he has neighbours to chat to from a safe distance, he has been missing his family. His stepson, Darren, was recently diagnosed with lymphoid cancer.

“He lives in Merton and I haven’t seen him since his diagnosis,” said Mr Howat. “Normally I would be there to support him, but that is impossible at the moment, so it’s been hard.”

He said the Felix-supplied produce had helped him. “We all have our down days,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been feeling half as good as I am without the food from Made in Hackney.”

Made in Hackney volunteers deliver food to elderly residents (Nigel Howard)

As well as loneliness and missing family, everyday tasks such as accessing online technology or cooking can be difficult for some older people, according to a recent Age UK report. The charity suggests up to 2.4 million people aged 70 and over have difficulty with at least one element of daily living.

Angus Wyllie, 72, from Barnet, has struggled with cooking and operating his iPad to keep in touch with his relatives.

“I am more of a ‘put a ready meal in the oven’ kind of person,” he admitted. “My iPad packed up early into lockdown which meant I couldn’t contact people, or get deliveries.”

He has benefited from the largesse of Katie-Louise Barber who has been cooking hundreds of meals from Felix-supplied produce out of her home in Barnet since the start of the pandemic. She delivers her food parcels across London every week and about half are to the elderly.

“Katie has been a lifesaver,” Mr Wyllie said. “She has been delivering to a few neighbours including a family of three nearby who have been struggling. She is an angel.”

To support Made in Hackney, make a donation here.

The Independent is encouraging readers to help groups that are trying to feed the hungry during the crisis. Find out how you can help here. Follow this link to donate to our campaign in London, in partnership with the Evening Standard.