Savvas Panas & the Ringcross Community Centre: food bank

Everybody has a story. Here’s how the food bank at Ringcross Community Centre offers food, advice and company during the Covid-19 pandemic for hungry Islington people. Interview with centre manager Savvas Panas, volunteers and food bank users by Nicola Baird.

A recent, chilling New Yorker piece (12 May 2020) reveals that the coronavirus pandemic has seen the number of people facing acute food insecurity rise. “Food insecurity is the level of hunger at which a person’s inability to eat enough food endangers their life or livelihood.” This horrible condition was effecting 130 million people globally. Now with Covid-19 destroying jobs and messing up food supply chains the statisticians reckon this could rise to around 300 million. But hunger isn’t just a statistic: it already effects hundreds of people living in Islington.

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In Islington being hungry is not a new phenomenon (see this Islington Faces post from August 2016 which states that in the first four months of 2016 more than 1,000 people used the Islington food bank) but it was a shock when this Trussell Trust food bank closed its doors when Covid-19 arrived because so many of their volunteers were retired and in high risk categories.

Since then food banks open for a couple of days a week have sprung up all across Islington, see more about them on Instagram @foodbankislington. But the one at Ringcross Community Centre, N7, which had been open since July 2018 offering fresh produce, has seen a massive growth in new and repeat users since the lockdown began on 23 March.

“We’re only ever a day away from running out of food,” says Centre Manager Savvas Panas who has put his Pilion Trust and Crashpad night shelter work on hold so that he can focus full time on running the five-day-a-week food bank with the Alexandra Wiley Tower Foundation (AWTF). “Demand for the food bank is up by over 450%,” says Lindsey Wylie.  Yes that’s right: 450 per cent!

Ringcross Community Centre is well known in N7. Before coronavirus it was running kids’ clubs, elder groups and supporting innumerable people struggling with benefits and housing issues. To help resolve one problem – hunger – the centre began to redistribute unwanted fresh fruit & vegetables from Greens’ greengrocers in Highgate and Muswell Hill and bread from Gail’s bakery to share with around 40 households each week. Piebury Corner and Ottolenghi have donated. Recent donations include 120 ready meals from The Felix Project and pork sausages and fish for 18 households from Waitrose

Fifty-five days after the 23 March lockdown, in the first week restrictions are easing somewhat, Islington Faces took a three-hour visit to the food bank and chatted to some of the 42 people who came to collect a bag of food. We also met volunteer drivers Matthew, Jill and Abdushafi who had driven over to collect boxes of food for delivery to people unable to leave their homes. [Names* with a star have either been changed or were not asked to allow anonymity].

Not just a food bank
“Everyone’s story is so personal and traumatic. It’s soul destroying. On Monday 11 May there were 84 people using the food bank – the highest in one day. On Wednesday 13 May we had 19 deliveries but by 3.30pm we’d completely depleted our food and run out of potatoes. That day 54 people collected food,” says Savvas who is clearly overworked – many of the usual team at Ringcross Community Centre are on furlough.

We all think we know how food banks work: you donate fresh, raw or cooked food, OR you volunteer OR you collect food. But at Ringcross there’s an overlap that shows how clearly the community centre is rooted in this Islington neighbourhood.  Anyone is welcome to take items from this food bank – it’s usually five items to make a meal, plus a loaf of bread and, if wanted, some treats such as a drink, chocolate or crisps. No vouchers are required, and if you need to do so you are welcome to return whenever you like.

“We have people on the phone saying they need shampoo or they haven’t had any shower gel for a week,” explains Savvas who is as usual at the centre of operations, in the courtyard garden outside the office, simultaneously directing, chatting and smoking. “Many are waiting for Universal Credit (UC). One woman today using the food bank is a hairdresser and applied for UC two weeks after lockdown but was told she’d have to wait another six weeks before her claim is processed. Another man who didn’t accept his PIP judgement has found that everything is frozen. He’ll get nothing until his claim is resolved!”

When people turn up hungry, they often need more help than a bag of food. Savvas believes the main troubles are caused by the stress of: “Benefits, housing eviction and domestic abuse. People just start crying and it all comes out We’ve seen a sudden spike in domestic violence because people are locked in. But there’s a lot of abuse we haven’t seen so much before. For example, some elderly people are locked in with their 50 or 60-year-old children who are not allowing them to leave the house and are making use of their pension. There’s also been a spike in men becoming homeless – their partners throw them out. It’s often young black and Irish men who live with a partner and their child. They are tradesmen and have been out working but now they can’t put money into the household they are thrown out. And then what do you do? You can’t sofa surf because people isolating don’t want anyone new. We find that people don’t realise that they are homeless and will say ‘I’m not one of them’. But the world has changed. We’re also supporting four or five families who are at risk from Covid-19 complications and rely on one person working -often mini cab or uber drivers – who can’t now stay in their house or can only stay isolated in one room. It’s no life for anyone if you take it to its extremes.”

Savvas has also made sure that people who can’t get out and about are being fed, especially people who no longer need hospital care. “We’re helping four people with head trauma (referred by Headway ), a woman with a broken leg and several stroke victims. All of these people need to eat and need us to provide ready made meals. They can’t go out and work or shop.”

MEET THE FOOD BANK USERS

• Aimee*arrives with a double buggy and hunger. She’s given two bags of food but seems especially delighted by the fresh herbs and a lemon. 
• Nina* with a pushchair needing nappies, size 5.
• Ralph* arrives with his dog bringing plastic bags for the food bank and an armful of Evening Standards. He needs pasta.
• Yvonne* from N1 heard about the food bank from her keyworker. She took fresh fruit – melons and oranges – to encourage her sons to eat more healthily. “They eat so much and then when I open the fridge for breakfast it’s all gone. I’ve been worrying about food. I’ve got this window box so when I saw there was something growing I started to water it to see if I could eat it! We’re surrounded by edible food – dandelions, burdock and chickweed – that you could put in a salad but in London the dogs wee everywhere…”
• Freddy* wearing a high neck jumper which doubles up as a mouth cover, visits with his dog (the food bank’s favourite!). “I was born poor so I use everything – I don’t throw anything away. I don’t like cooking much so I’ll make this into stew, then put it into some small dishes and freeze them. If I don’t use the core of a cabbage I’ll give it to my dog to chew.
• Another buggy-pushing mum accompanied by a primary-school aged daughter picks out a melon.
• Alia*in a pink fluffy fleece, who has moved to the area a few months ago, is asked by Ringcross’s Donna to make some carrot juice from her special recipe and share it tomorrow. It’s clear this lady is a wonderful cook. “I’m in lockdown so of course I cook. I make juices with spinach, carrot and banana. I also make Moroccan tagine, breads and pastries. It’s Ramadan so we’re eating at night using the food bank. Yesterday we had sage with sweet potato chips, steak and spinach. I’m thinking of making rice and chicken tonight. It’s nice to go out and come here as I haven’t even got a balcony in my flat.” She leaves with two bags and one piece of freshly picked rosemary – for the chicken.
• Mum with her young son on a skateboard are delighted to find some cat litter at the food bank.
• Three Polish men, all wearing grey tracksuits, arrive just before closing time. “I’m going to make soup,” says the tallest, Mateusz* who leaves with a bag of carrots, washing up liquid and loo roll.

MEET THE FOOD BANK VOLUNTEERS

• Mikes – the tall guy in a mask which only just hides his smile – helping meet, greet and fill bags with food. “We all go through tough times in life, but this helps people leave with a smile on their face,” says Mikes. “No one wants to come to a food bank and it’s even worse if when they do someone like me then said grumpily, ‘What do you want’? We want them to leave with a bounce in their step. I used to go to food banks but hated all those peple asking questions, I just wanted to be in and out. But here people feel invited – there is no judgement. Savvas gave me an opportunity when I thought there was no hope left,” continues Mikes. “I’d been in jail for 17 years and was getting unfairly evicted from a hostel. Donna [who works with Savvas] heard this deep voice at the council office and said to me to ‘calm down’ then told me that she had somewhere that I could live. There was a lot of pressure on me. I was in a situation where I’ve got no family and not from around here. When a car breaks down you take it to a mechanic but human life isn’t valued like that. For years I was told, ‘You’re not going to be able to get a job’ and now I’m here. I feel like I’ve got prospects. I don’t have to pretend to be smiley to get through the day. I get positivity from seeing people leave with a smile on their face,” he says. It was difficult to interview Mikes as he was so busy. During the three hours (12.30-3.30pm) Islington Faces was at the food bank he was the main contact helping select food and chatting to the 42 people who turned up. Truly a lovely guy.
• Naomi* helping meet, greet and fill bags with food. “I can empathise with the people that come and have a difficult background. The worst part is I go back home and think of them. I find that most people don’t just come for the food, they come to talk or to get help from Savvas with benefits, housing eviction and domestic violence.”
• Tevoho who has been working on Pilion Trust’s social media and website and sometimes deliveries. On his breaks he’s outside, perfecting his keepy-uppy skills. “Savvas taught me to cook when I was at the Crashpad, I’m good at it now. Last night I made pasta and tuna from the food bank. There’s always a rush near 4pm when we shut.”
• Jill who is an experienced school governor and chair of the Islington Schools Federation which oversees two secondary and two primaries. Jill has been delivering food to households in N1, N4, N7 and N19. “People are very grateful and like the way the boxes have a lot of variety. It inspired me to participate in the NHS’s covid app trials. You check in every day saying if you feel fine, or not. On Sunday I told the app I felt a bit funny and by Tuesday I’d been invited for a Covid-19 test which I did at London Zoo car park. It’s two tests, one by your tonsils which makes you gag and one up your nose. They don’t hurt. 24 hours later I found out it was negative. So here I am delivering again.” Next time Islington Faces meets Jill she’s on a zoom call for an Islington Chair of Governors meeting.

Character
Running a food bank is not necessarily a job for the soft-hearted. Savvas may be a wonderful storyteller but he’s also a good judge of character. He tells about the guys who turned up every two days asking for nappies. “They didn’t know what size their baby used, and they never brought the baby. Soon we realised we had nappygate on our hands! We don’t want people selling nappies when other people need them,” he says. Large bags of olives also appeared to be something that could be sold by drugusers desperate for cash. And then there was the problem of equity: “We were trusting people to take a bag a household and then we realised we had three people, all from other boroughs, who knew each other and were each planning to take a big bag home. We couldn’t allow that as we’re struggling to feed people here.”

No food bank can stock everything families need: right now at Ringcross Community Centre there’s no tuna, fresh or long- life milk or butter, but there are lovely fresh herbs, chicken, sardines and the sort of fruit that will make a fabulous smoothie. Just as importantly there’s a group of staff and volunteers who can offer some friendly chat and, if needed, advice about life’s big problems – all done socially distanced.

• Ringcross Community Centre Food Bank is open 12-4pm, Monday to Friday at ** Lough Road, N7 8RH. It’s about 3 minutes’ walk from the Paradise Park bus stop (153). Also see Ringcross Community Centre website.
• Follow Pillion Trust @piliontrust @pilioncrashpad
• Ringcross Community Centre will be fundraising to revamp their domestic kitchen into a easy-clean, bigger stainless steel version soon. Please do consider making a donation or organising a fundraiser. Their target is £20,000.
• The Alexandra Wylie Tower Foundation was founded in memory of Alexandra Wylie, a 17-year-old who very sadly died from incurable cancer. If you want info about donating to the food bank at Ringcross Community Centre – including non-perishables and money – please also see www.awtf.org/food-appeal

Over to you
If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola