Walking for #extraplace - 100 miles for 100 meals

WALKING FOR #EXTRAPLACE – 100 MILES | 7 DAYS | 100 MEALS  

Wo King, CEO of Hi9 Ltd., a Cornish Tech company, is walking 100 miles to raise money for 100 meals to highlight the rising food poverty pandemic.  

 

The Covid lockdowns might be a fading memory for some people in the UK, but there is one pandemic which is going nowhere. Thanks to the rising cost-of-living, food poverty is still on the incline, and now more than ever, it is time to set an ‘extra place’ at the table.  

Across Cornwall this Easter, CEO of Hi9, Wo King, is walking #100milesfor100meals. This challenge is part of Hi9’s wider campaign #Extraplace, which encourages people to donate £8 - the cost of a meal - to foodbanks. You can #WalkWithWo in this week-long challenge, from 7th April in Bodmin to 13th April at Transform CPR’s foodbank in Camborne, via Bugle, Newquay, Truro, Falmouth, Helston and Penzance.  
In addition to raising money and spreading awareness of food poverty, Hi9 are gathering data on foodbank opening times, donations and volunteering needs, to inform the first comprehensive, accessible database of Cornish foodbanks. This enables users to chat to ‘Debbie’, Hi9’s AI assistant, to find out accurate, up-to-date information. Wo said, “We’re doing this to solve a problem. If you Google ‘food’ in your area you get an incredible number of search results describing anywhere from cafes to fast food outlets. What you don’t get is information on foodbanks. What we are building by creating a database is Google for everyone else.”  

In the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Transformation CPR’s client provision went from 10,000-12,000 meals per month to a shocking 26,000 meals a month, increasing their costs from £4,000 a month to £4,000 a week! Whilst demands for support have reduced from these emergency levels, Cornwall’s food poverty pandemic is significantly worsening as a result of the rising cost of living. The #100milesfor100meals challenge will raise funds for Transformation CPR, however once the database is in place, Hi9 will be establishing their own charity which will enable them to raise and distribute funds to all Cornish foodbanks. 

For those foodbanks not visited on the walk, and for any smaller but equally essential community larders and fridges, Hi9 will be in contact to ensure your details are included and correct in the database. However, if you run, volunteer at, or know of a foodbank, larder or fridge, please do not hesitate to reach out: hi@debbie.chat 

You can donate an #Extraplace for £8 via the Walking for #Extraplace GoFundMe page. All the funds will go to Transformation CPR who will distribute the #Extraplace meals over the Easter weekend. 

If you’d like to #WalkWithWo or learn more about the timings of the walking route, please email hi@debbie.chat. 

You can chat foodbanks, Universal Credit and to Debbie right now via Facebook (@chat2debbie), Whatsapp (07520 645157) or www.debbie.chat. 

 

More information about Transformation CPR: Transformation CPR supports vulnerable and/or disadvantaged people in an area of high deprivation - Camborne, Pool and Redruth in Cornwall. According to need, they provide food in crisis situations, advice and support, signposting, and many other things. They are the heartbeat of their community and are passionate about meeting local needs.