On Monday 23rd December, 15 Southend charities and community groups joined forces to provide residents with free nutritious meals over the Festive period.

2,500 specially made nutritious Christmas Dinners and 1,500 other meals were donated by Prep Kitchen, with Southend Association of Voluntary Services (SAVS) and The Experience Project helping to organise and distribute, and Atlantic Pacific and Port Express providing logistics support.

The meals will be given out to those that need it most including families, older people, the homeless community and others across the City.

Co-Founder and CEO of Prep Kitchen, Will Fishenden said “My co-founder Mark and I are very pleased to be able to be part of this festive initiative and we hope these tasty, nutritious meals go some way in bringing some Christmas cheer to families and residents this week.”

Roger Savage, Deputy CEO of SAVS said “Southend charities do amazing work all year round, supporting residents in their times of need. Generous moments like these help to bring our communities together in a positive way. We’re very proud of the great things that happen in our city, thanks to the Voluntary Sector and kind acts of residents and businesses. We would like to say a special thank you to Prep Kitchen, Port Express, Atlantic Pacific and the Experience Project for making this possible.”

Simon Matthews, Project Lead at the Experience Project, said “On behalf of the Whittingham Experience Project it was an honour and a privilege to distribute 4000 Prep kitchen nutritious Christmas meals through our partnership group of 22 charities. This has had a huge impact on thousands of families from Shoebury – Canvey.”

Chrissy Nichols, Director of Atlantic Pacific, said “Atlantic Pacific and Port Express are so pleased to be part of this, and to support such a great cause. We hope these meals bring a smile to those that recieve them, and let them know they’re not along this time of year.”

The list of charities and community organisations included:

• Storehouse
• Southend Thorpedean School
• YMCA
• Shoebury foodbank
• Trinity Family Centre
• Rochford Foodbank
• Canvey Foodbank
• St Nicolas School
• Little Heroes
• Balmoral Foodbank
• Southend Aspirations Project
• Whittingham House Carers
• The Experience Project
• Southend Ambulance Service
• Estuary Housing

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More information about each of the partners:
Prep Kitchen – https://prepkitchen.co.uk/
SAVS – https://www.savs-southend.org/
The Experience Project – https://www.southendandleigh.org/experience-project.html
Atlantic Pacific – https://atlantic-pacific.com/
Port Express – https://port-express.com/