Big News!

Photo by Abdul Saboor

WE HAVE BIG NEWS… We are re-opening the kitchen in Northern France!

A small COVID-19 response team, including the co-founders, will re-open our kitchen in Calais, assess the need in the region and slowly rebuild our operations accordingly. We are busy planning how to adapt our practices so that we can safely and ethically serve the communities who need it most.

We will really need your help as we rebuild our stock and brave this new post-COVID world. 

Please give what you can, share and engage with our social media posts and find creative ways to support Refugee Community Kitchen. This is a communal effort and we need each other now more than ever! 

As always, thank you for your support, especially over the last few months, which have been challenging for all of us. We are incredibly grateful for the community of people that stand together with RCK. 

Love, strength & good health to you all!
❤️🍽✊

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PS. Recurring donations truly keep us going so please don't forget to set up your recurring donation with our new donation page!

VOLUNTEERS

For health and safety reasons we can only have a small team at this point. We will let you know here when we can accept more volunteers in our kitchens. Thank you for your patience & support! 

Migrate Art Masks ready to order!

So happy to announce that the first Migrate Art masks are now available to order!

These first masks are by 5 amazing artists - 

Helen Beard

Kai and Sunny

Jon Burgerman

Miazbrothers

Richard Woods

The masks are limited edition, re-usable & reversible, with 100% of the profits going directly to RCK! Each mask is £19.99 and covers the cost of 30 hot, nutritious meals. Order yours today!

RCK OUTREACH UPDATE!

Throughout the devastating impact of Covid-19, RCK Outreach has remained committed to serving food to those who need it. Outreach is still going strong in Brixton, as well as providing food parcels and supporting service user families in Camden. We are looking at going back to a normal service in the next month as people are back on the streets.

Founder Janie Mac made it into the national press this week, talking about the current situation for homeless in London & the UK -

'Janie Mac, the co-founder of Refugee Community Kitchen which has been providing food parcels and hot meals to the homeless in Brixton and Camden, argues there are “101 things that could have been done,” instead of the simple act of removing people.

“You can’t put someone that’s been living on the streets with mental health issues and drug issues and put them in a hotel room and expect them to co-operate. There are many layers on why that is difficult for them, including isolation.

“It’s easy to look after the people who are compliant, who do what they’re told, but the most vulnerable people are the ones who are the most difficult for many reasons. And if you haven’t sorted that out then you haven’t been successful.”'

You can read the full article here:

RCK UPDATE FROM SAM JONES

France has now closed it borders and is enacting strong measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

As of now, we are still permitted to provide food. We are taking every precaution possible in order to protect both our volunteers and the EXTREMELY vulnerable people who we serve.

The refugees living rough in Northern France have no access to running water, sanitation, electricity, shelter or security. The average amount of sleep is about THREE hours thanks to perpetual, violent evictions by the police. Immune systems and spirits are low after months of abuse and brutal winter weather. Our states CANNOT ignore the thousands of people living rough on our borders during this pandemic.

We must come together during these crazy times. Thankfully we have a core group of long-term volunteers who are committed to staying but funds and numbers are low and WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Please watch and share this video and DONATE what you can

Our love goes out to all of you and your families. Stay safe.

- Refugee Community Kitchen

HOW RCK IS TAKING ON COVID-19

After a few months of intense winter wind and rain, we are facing yet another storm, COVID-19.

Keeping our volunteers and the people we support, who have no shelter or sanitation, safe during this health crisis is our highest priority.

We are currently serving about 13,000 meals to hundreds of people a week. Volunteer numbers in the kitchen have drastically dropped and we foresee a huge struggle ahead to keep the food coming out. We really need your help as we come face-to-face with yet another crisis forcing us to dig deep for the vulnerable people we serve.

In the kitchen we are making changes to our operations on the ground to avoid spreading the virus to the vulnerable people we serve.

We recommend checking the Foreign Office Website guidelines on travelling to and from France over the coming weeks as this may also affect your travel insurance and our operations.

We are currently accepting international volunteers but please remember if you present any symptoms, have had contact with people who've been diagnosed, or plan to travel from an affected area, it is best to stay at home and consider making a donation instead of volunteering.

Please donate & volunteer with us if it is safe for you to do so.

Remember if you present any symptoms, have had contact with people who've been diagnosed, or plan to travel from an affected area, it is best to stay at home.

PS. Please email us if you'd like more details about how we are handling COVID-19.