City Harvest – Harvest Festival

The theme for World Food Day 2026 is ‘Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow’

It’s a theme close to our hearts. In 2023, we published our report ‘What Does Holiday Hunger Mean?’, looking at the impact that children face when Free School Meals programmes close down over the school holidays.

An estimated 34% of children in London live in conditions of ‘absolute poverty’, in which their parents lack the money for basic essentials like food, clothing and medical care. For many, the difference these programmes make can mean not going hungry during the holidays. We’ve seen the huge impacts that inadequate nutrition can have on children’s development, and their ability to learn in schools.

Nourishing tomorrow is a core part of what we do at City Harvest – and with your help, we can provide the support these children need for a brighter tomorrow.

Our City Harvest Festival will run from 12 – 16 October 2026

We couldn’t do the work we do without the support of schools, businesses and community groups. That’s why we’ll be calling on people to host food drives in their local area, as we work towards collecting 50,000 extra meals for Londoners experiencing food poverty this year.

Sign up today, and we’ll send you all the information you need to start organising your own food drive: along with printable posters, activities for schools, and ideas for how to make your food drive a huge success.