CORPORATE VOLUNTEERING

How can we facilitate a group of volunteers from your company or organisation?

We love leading volunteer groups at St John’s Soup Kitchen! Bring your team to cook a hot, fresh, nutritious meal for our deserving and grateful guests. We’ll gather together, go through the fruit and vegetables we have on the day, design a dish or two, and get cooking. We might ask for a hand with the washing up (sorry!), and there might be some restocking of the food bank shelves.

  • Expect to chop a LOT, then season and stir to your heart’s content.

    We’ll have some music playing and keep it fun and casual - no name-tags or “quick, tell us a fun fact about yourself NOW”!

    In just one 3 hour cooking session, a team of 6 can cook enough to cover 300 hot meals. And don’t forget dessert (our guests never do)!

  • Things are pretty flexible around here, like team numbers, day of the week, time, etc.. We can make just about anything work! For more information, please email our Volunteer Coordinator Bea at volunteering@stjohnskitchen.org.uk , who will be happy to answer any questions you might have to help get your team booked in.

  • We need to ensure there is something to cook with! We ask each volunteer/their company to donate some produce.

    Ideas..

    • STAPLES such as sugar, oats, and cooking oil

    • VEG such as onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, mushrooms, courgettes, and aubergines

    • FRUIT such as apples, pears, and berries for pies

    • BAGS We also ask groups to donate (used or new) bags-for-life for our food bank parcels

  • Thisis not compulsory, but we would be extremely grateful for any financial contribution your organisation could make, in addition to your time and energy on the day.

    It costs over £5000 per month to keep our service running. Demand and costs rises in tandem. We were recently forced to halve our opening hours by suspending our Tuesday evening services entirely and indefinitely. This was a real blow to our guests and volunteers, and really shows how great our need is for support to stay open and serve our community.

    More information about how to donate can be found on the donating page.

  • Reach out to our Volunteer Coordinator Bea at volunteering@stjohnskitchen.org.uk , she’s always happy to answer any questions!

Frequently Asked Questions

Thank you to the companies and organisations we have hosted in the past. We’re so grateful for your time, energy and generosity.

We’re delighted to welcome so many of you back for a second or third time!

Harkalm

M&F Health

MACE

BDO

GEP

Astra Zeneca

Savills

Nationwide

Insulet

Scott Brownrigg

Clearance Capital

Action4London

Jermyn Street Theatre

Blackbaud

UCL’s African Caribbean Society

UCL Women’s Basketball

UCL’s VOCE Gospel Society

  • “It was a really fun activity with a strong social and community impact. Look forward to doing it again!”

    —Astra Zeneca team rep

  • “This was a well organised event and our host was excellent in taking us through what needed to be done but also the impact of what we were delivering.”

    —Blackbaud team rep

  • “We were very grateful that we were able to support the local community of the soup kitchen (even at a small scale). And we were all very much impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the team (like Bea) who take care of the community regularly!”

    —Arie, Insulet

  • “It was a privilege to be part of the evenings and to contribute to such a meaningful cause. Our team found the experience incredibly rewarding, and we’re so glad we could help support your efforts."

    —Belle, Harkalm

  • "It was a rewarding experience, where we prepared two batches of roast vegetable curry and three pear crumbles, which will serve over 60 guests! A big thank you to St John’s for having us - we had a fantastic time and can’t wait to come back!"

    —Rowen, Savills

  • "For our teams, it’s also a chance to step out of the office, reconnect with each other, and work together in a meaningful way. At the end of the day, volunteers can see the direct results of their efforts—an inspiring and truly rewarding experience.”

    —Employee Volunteering rep

  • "Volunteering at St. John’s Soup Kitchen was a truly rewarding experience for everyone at Scott Brownrigg. It gave us the chance to step away from our day-to-day routines, work together as a team, and contribute to the Finsbury Park community."

    —Nadia, Scott Brownrigg