Big Issue’s Changemakers of 2025: Food and nutrition
The vital role that food plays in building and sustaining communities is reflected in the can-do attitude of those determined to make sure no one goes without
Food poverty shouldn’t exist. But while it does, these Changemakers are fighting the good fight.
Maya Amangeldiyeva, Maya’s
What started as a food bank has grown into an “everything bank”. After fundraising £60,000, Amangeldiyeva set up a “free shop” in Herne Bay for those in need, which won her ITV Meridian’s Pride of Britain regional fundraiser of the year. Her nominator tells us that Amangeldiyeva “works tirelessly to help those in need”. We spoke to Andrew Robertson, a director at Maya’s.
What is your big issue and how are you trying to tackle it?
When you know that there is food going to waste somewhere and people struggling to afford their shopping and heating bills. I try to connect the two together, because no one deserves to be choosing between heating and eating. We collect over 140 slots of supermarket surplus food each week, and in the last 12 months we supplied 218,890 free meals, 30% of these were for kids. Our food banks operate 365 days a year. One of the other biggest issues is when people are in need but because of the stigma associated with using a food bank, they are too embarrassed to ask for help. We run a non-judgmental, no-questions-asked policy to make sure even the most vulnerable members of our community are getting help.
What is the one thing you want people to know about your work?
We are proving to the whole world that humanity, love and kindness still exist and it lives here in our charity. In 2024 we have completed 40,246 hours of volunteering. Our 200 volunteers collect and distribute surplus food from supermarkets 365 days a year. We have no payroll, no one asks for even expenses. Kind people get involved because they believe in what we do and want to help, they see the impact of what we do on the ground daily. It’s rewarding and infectious, the more you help the more you see the need and gratitude from people and the more you then want to give.
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Do you have any memorable moments from 2024?
Shortly after winning the Pride of Britain regional fundraiser of the year, we won Food Bank of the Year award and BBC Make a Difference Green Award (through our free shop and surplus food collections, which had saved 9,250 tonnes of CO2 in 2024). When we get awards like this it fills me with pride for what our team achieve on a daily basis. When you sit in the audience and hear the judge’s comments and you realise they are describing your organisation it is a rush of emotion that just makes you want to scream with pride. So many people work so hard every day and when they get some recognition it’s a great feeling.
Maya Amangeldiyeva
Maya’s Free Shop (the first high street shop where everything is free) in 2024 grew exponentially to meet the increasing needs of the cost of living crisis. People in need who are struggling can find items such as clothing, toys, white goods, furniture etc all for free. When we give people food, clothing or even a bed to sleep on we actually are giving them hope and the strength not to give up. In November 2024 we launched our Christmas ‘feed the 5,000’ campaign. It was an outstanding success, receiving support from local people and businesses, all coming together to help us feed those in need. This year we rolled out a red carpet on our Christmas ingredients giveaway day, everyone deserves to be made to feel special once in a while. During the Christmas period we gave away 5,000 free meals and 1,000 Christmas gifts. By doing this we gave people a chance to put their heating and Christmas lights on and celebrate with their families.
What are your plans for 2025?
In February we are launching the biggest free shop, with over 4,000 square feet of retail space where people will be able to access everything from food to clothing, white foods and furniture completely free. This will help us to help more people from all over Kent who have been affected by the cost of living crisis, escaping domestic abuse, have had a house flood or fire or just simply don’t have the money to buy a coat or new uniform for their kids. We plan to duplicate the idea of the free shop in more areas as the need is so big, and we can see the massive difference our free shop has made to the members of our community who struggle the most. Together we can make a big difference!
The humble Stottie has become the symbol of Big River Bakery’s campaign to create equitable, healthy, sustainable and local food systems in the north-east of England. Kindness is built into every aspect of Big River Bakery, which doubles as an open-to-all community space, offering food education and training in the premises. The team works with businesses and charities to deliver social value to the people of Shieldfield and beyond, including 200 free breakfasts each month during term time.
Coventry Foodbank
An industrial estate in Coventry is not the first place you’d look for fresh strawberries, but the “incredible” Coventry Foodbank proves you don’t need green fields to grow fresh produce with its Sow to Grow scheme. MP Zarah Sultana nominated her constituency food bank because “the work they do is incredible! They’re growing their own vegetables and things outside. It’s a very concrete area, but they’ve managed to put some compost things in place. They’re huge Changemakers.” This is on top of providing emergency three-day food parcels for those in crisis.
Travis Robinson
Travis Robinson, Big Trav’s Foodbank
Nominated by magician Steven Frayne, formerly known as Dynamo
Our youngest Changemaker this year. Eleven-year-old Travis Robinson from Bradford made headlines when he sold all of his toys so he could start ‘Big Trav’s Foodbank’. Robinson was inspired to take action when he had a conversation with a homeless man living with food insecurity. Within weeks the young activist had made hundreds of donations across Bradford, and went on to help around 200 people a month.
Find the rest of the Changemakers series on the links below and pick up the magazine from your local Big Issue vendor.
Twice a week The Margins Project’s volunteers in Islington, North London provides hot meals for 60-80 people. Showers, laundry, food parcels, access to a hardship fund and employment advisory services are all freely available. These information resources are designed to address urgent problems and equip people with skills to improve their quality of life sustainably.
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Feeding Communities
Feeding Communities delivers tens of thousands of portions of fresh hot food to people experiencing homelessness in London. Most nights the team, led by professional chef Dean Collins and director Raj Singh, is out distributing veggie curries, lasagnas and rice puddings with homemade jams that are so delicious and hearty they’ve even put a smile “on the face of a Tottenham fan facing defeat by Arsenal”.
Francklin Evagle, KataKata
Nominated by Rose Williams, Big Issue ambassador and star of Sanditon
Williams nominated Evagle, the “incredible owner and visionary behind KataKata in Brixton” because of his work creating a community hub and serving up delicious food. “[It] is truly inspirational!” Second-hand furniture, donations and a sustainably sourced menu has seen Evagle’s dream become a popular dining experience celebrating different cultures.
Astrea Academy Woodfields
Astrea Avademy Woodfields
The ‘family dining’ scheme at Astrea Academy Woodfields, Doncaster, is so popular it has increased school attendance. Each lunchtime, year seven children eat together, serve each other, learn table manners and have good conversations. This helps them develop socially and teaches them valuable nutritional lessons.
Melanie Hudson, Slade Green food bank
Hudson manages Slade Green food bank in Bexley, South London. Her work with local businesses to secure leftover food donations has provided an additional and environmentally friendly source of sustenance for the community. As well as running the service every weekday at St Augustine’s church, as she has for over a decade, she somehow finds time to manage local football team Slade Green under-21s.
Food & Solidarity
Food & Solidarity is a democratic membership organisation committed to improving the quality of life in our neighbourhoods. Members actively contribute to enhancing community wellbeing through access to essential food resources and direct action on pressing local issues. Established in the Inner West End of Newcastle upon Tyne, the organisation is expanding its impact across the city and beyond. Food & Solidarity is committed to addressing urgent community needs through direct action. Whether it’s providing food support, campaigning against child poverty, or organising against evictions, members work together to ensure that no one in our community is left behind. By pressuring politicians, confronting landlords, challenging housing disrepair and organised abandonment, and defending tenants, Food & Solidarity creates real change, not through charity, but through collective power.
