Dom’s Food Mission is the UK award winning charity (1166918) making a difference to people’s lives by feeding those less fortunate, whilst making an impact on reducing food waste by taking surplus food from retailers and distributing it to children, homeless people, hostels, refugees and more.
Dom’s Food Mission was launched in May 2015 by husband and wife duo, Dom and Alex Warren. Dom Warren, originally an electrician, was inspired to make a difference when he noticed how many children and families were struggling to make ends meet when working in their homes. Dom decided to create a Facebook group, encouraging people to donate food and essential items to a drop off point in a Hastings car park, where the donations would then be taken to a local food bank. As word spread about Dom’s Food Mission, so did the demand for their services. Within a few months, Dom’s Food Mission was donating not only to children and families, but also to homeless people, hostels, ex-service men and women, war veterans and refugees. Dom’s Food Mission also gained the support of over 20 sponsors including Greggs and supermarket giants Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, TESCO and ASDA.
The charity has won numerous awards including Services to the Community, the 24/7 Legend Award and in 2019, they received a game-changing National Lottery Grant which enabled Dom to quit his full-time job and make Dom’s Food Mission his main focus. The grant also helped to support the community immensely during COVID-19, which saw the demand for care packages increase greatly.
Dom’s Food Mission works with local communities on a regular basis. Their most recent project, ‘A Helping Hand’ enabled children and communities to unite. Surplus and donated food was brought into schools and centres where the children were taught how to prepare and cook meals for the less fortunate. The project was supported by the Hastings branch of Tesco Extra who invited children to be shown round the store whilst being taught how to save food from being thrown away. ‘A Helping Hand’ not only taught people how to cook, it provided them with the tools and empathy to help others.
Dom Warren, founder and CEO of Dom’s Food Mission comments:
“The pandemic has resulted in an extremely worrying time for many people in the UK, so we’re delighted to be doing our bit to help. We are a small team making a big difference to the local Hastings community, and the environment too. As a nation, we throw away an astonishing amount of food each year, with over 35,000 tonnes going to landfill. Our aim is to show people how they can turn bread nearing its sell-by-date into bread & butter pudding, how to turn over ripe bananas into banana bread and so on. We’ve come a long way from the days of loading my car full of food and packaging parcels up in the dining room! It’s taken a lot hard work, but I have the most amazing team working alongside me – I have high hopes for the future of the charity, this is just the beginning.”
