The Evening Standard has given a commitment to keep supporting Londoners living with food poverty after the current Covid-19 crisis abates.

And the paper has set itself an ambitious target of raising £10m to help support its Food for London Now appeal.

In an impassioned appeal, proprietor Evgeny Lebedev asked to readers to continue to help the campaign which has already raised £3m.

“I have seen pensioners living alone, without food and terrified. I have seen homeless people unable to access the services on which they depend. I have heard of families who have gone days without a meal,” wrote Lebedev.

“We believe we have passed the peak of Covid infections, but this is only the beginning of the hunger epidemic. The aftershock of the crisis will lead to higher unemployment and more strain on our social services,” he added.

The appeal supports The Felix Project London’s biggest food surplus distributor, which is part of a co-ordinated food distribution effort taking place across the capital. The appeal is under the auspices of the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund and run by the London Community Foundation, which manages the Fund.

The London Food Alliance has been set up by the Felix Project together with the capital’s two other largest food surplus distributors — FareShare and City Harvest — to collect surplus food from suppliers and deliver it in bulk to community hubs in each London borough.

Each borough then creates hubs to receive the food, divide it into food parcels and deliver them to the doorstep of vulnerable Londoners.

“We intend to build on our success and work to ensure lasting food security for hundreds of thousands of Londoners. To do this we are committing our campaign to raise a war chest of £10 million to tackle food poverty across London for three years,” added Lebedev who said the money would enable 100,000 meals a day to be provided.

He also revealed plans open a huge community kitchen.

To donate, go here