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the felix project volunteers with apple backdrop© The Felix Project,Getty
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I volunteered at a food bank and the kindness shown changed my life

Mark Setchfield shares why volunteering for The Felix Project changed his life  

Katie Daly
Lifestyle Writer
November 12, 2024
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At a time when Mark Setchfield was searching for a sense of purpose and a way to connect with others through the COVID-19 pandemic, the graphic designer fell in love with volunteering at The Felix Project - a food bank that has completely changed his life. 

"I wasn't good. I was in a really bad place because I'd been at home for nearly three years and it's isolating," the 54-year-old says as he sits down with HELLO! ahead of World Kindness Day to share how the creation of "a community within a community" reframed his life.

Mark Setchfield selfie with Felix green van© Mark Setchfield
Mark Setchfield tells HELLO! how volunteering with The Felix Project changed his life

Where it all started

Having moved back to the UK from Dubai mid-pandemic, Mark quickly realised that the unreliability of freelance work and the isolation of remote working was taking a serious toll on his mental health. "It was really difficult," Mark remembers. 

The Felix Project volunteers with crates of pumpkins© The Felix Project
The Felix Project has an environmental and social impact on the community

"Finding work, not seeing anybody, not socialising - for me, my mental health was all over the place." It was a difficult adjustment having left his lifestyle behind in Dubai and with the cost of living in London. 

crate of red apples© The Felix Project
Fruit that supermarkets can't sell is donated to The Felix Project for distribution

Looking back, the East London-dwelling designer realises finding the project, which collects surplus food from suppliers and redistributes it to charities, through his flatmate couldn't have come at a better time.

What does a shift look like?

Mark started by taking on a Monday morning shift at the project which has branches in all corners of London. "When you've got nothing lined up, Monday mornings are really hard and quite difficult because you think, 'Oh I could just lay in'. So I used to do Monday morning from 8:45 am until 12:30 pm," he recalls. 

The volunteer explains that roles at the food bank can range from becoming a driver and delivering food to cutting onions in the industrial kitchen as lots of the crates full of dry and fresh food donated by major supermarkets are used to create batches of ready meals.

Marcus Roberts, relationship manger at The Felix project, with Sadiq Khan who visited the depot© The Felix Project
Marcus Roberts, relationship manger at The Felix project, with Sadiq Khan who visited the depot

These meals are sent out to homeless shelters, women's refuges, and other charities. On average, Mark's depot will create an average of 4000 meals a day.

"The sheer volume is just mind-blowing," Mark says. "I did one shift, and I spent three hours fluffing rice because that's a job." 

The Felix Project volunteers holding crates of fruit© The Felix Project
Mark made friends through The Felix Project

Being out in the warehouse has also been a rewarding part of Mark's volunteering experience as he has made friends and met others who are keen to give back. He recalls meeting Jan, a fellow volunteer, who also happened to be a freelance graphic designer, with whom he clicked straight away.

"Not only are we both doing something really good, but you're bonding with people. My mental health was elevated from being someone sitting at home and thinking, 'I can't walk around that park again on my own'."

Kindness at work

With the various jobs Mark has taken on as a volunteer for The Felix Project, he has been able to witness the impact it has firsthand. 

The Felix Project outside with crates© The Felix Project
The Felix Project saves food from going to landfill

"It's completely blown my mind. Initially, I thought it would be a few tins and a few bags of flour," he says. "I'm pumping and lifting up these big trolleys around the warehouse and this isn't even the biggest one."

Mark explains: "We went to a local church where they cook food for old-age pensioners so they can have a daily meal…It's a social thing for people who live on their own or live in sheltered housing.

The Felix Project volunteers in warehouse© The Felix Project
The Felix Project keeps food in huge crates in the warehouse ready to deliver to schools and refuges

"[A] women's refuge was another one we went to in Hackney because again, they have an internal chef, but they're relying on getting food by working alongside another charity."

King Charles with The Felix Project volunteers© Getty
King Charles visited The Felix Project in February 2023

The Felix Project also supplies schools with extra fruit. This provides children and families in need with an internal school food bank which they can discreetly go to. "They have food donations within the school [which] make people feel more comfortable and less like you have to go to a food bank to survive," Mark explains.

The Felix Project volunteers making hot meals with King Charles watches© Getty
The Felix Project makes hot meals for those in need, as King Charles saw first hand

Mark also sees the impact of the project, which has even been visited by King Charles, when those who work in nearby Canary Wharf in large banks and other firms will be inspired by their work and put in a shift themselves as part of their company's giving back initiative. As a result of this, Mark has become a volunteer trainer.

Kind to the environment

The environmental impact of Mark's kind work should also not be underestimated as so much of the food that is donated or turned into hot meals is saved from going into landfill. Much of the food used is perfectly edible but is past its supermarket sell-by date.

"It's not just fresh stuff, it's all the packaging and stuff," Mark explains. "If you've got bags of flour, you know you're not going to take the flour out - it's just going to be dumped. Plastic wrapping and everything would just go into the landfill."

The Felix Project van© The Felix Project
The Felix Project deliver food and meals to those in need

Mark gives an example of when a pallet stacked with boxes of cheese assortments as high as him was donated to those in need. 

The Felix Project volunteers holding crates of fruit© The Felix Project
The Felix Project volunteers work hard getting food ready for delivery

"[There was] absolutely nothing wrong with it. They printed the wrong expiry date on the box, so they couldn't put it in the supermarkets. We took all the cheese out of the boxes, put them into big boxes, and then they went out, and you just think that's incredible," he recalls.

The impact of kindness

In between his Monday to Friday work post-pandemic, Mark now fits in a shift wherever he can and implores those willing and interested to do the same. "We have Christmas parties and all get together," he says. "Even if you haven't been there for six months if you can give an hour, it's time that we really need."

Volunteers with The Felix Project holding crates of pears© The Felix Project
Volunteering with The Felix Project got Mark out of the house

Reflecting on the volunteering role he took on one Monday morning three years ago, Mark tells us working with The Felix Project is the most rewarding experience of his life. 

He says he has noticed an impact "on so many levels in terms of how I feel, the socialising aspect, and then what I'm giving and doing for a community of people that are quite desperate."

 crates of food by van© The Felix Project
Supermarkets donate crates of food

Mark concludes: "A lot of [people] are desperate and you think can a few more people like me get involved and they would never be short on shifts."

To learn more about The Felix Project, visit: www.thefelixproject.org 

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