Volunteers thanked for running East End food bank for 70 weeks

Their weekly stall outside Bethnal Green Underground station was visited by the speaker of Tower Hamlets Council, Mohammed Ahbab Hossain, to thank them.

The food bank was set up by father-of-two Muhi Mikdad from Stepney Green during the first lockdown.

“It was our week number 70 since we started this,” he said. “We had three council members, including the speaker, who came to show appreciation, as well as a lot of homeless and needy people who collected food.”

Muhi, a trained St John Ambulance paramedic who gives Covid vaccinations, uses the food bank stall to raise public awareness and encourage people to have their innoculations.

He also runs the London Sportif charity, which put on a children’s cricket festival at Victoria Park during the school summer holidays and held a fun day at West Ham Park last month for his volunteers as a “thank you”.

This time it was his turn to get thanks from council members for helping the community through the crisis.

Muhi Mikdad (second from right) and his foodbank volunteers (Image: Mum Mikdad)