Cardboard Citizens changes the lives of homeless and displaced people through theatre and the performing arts.

Mission:
- Present plays performed by homeless and displaced people, to share experiences and problem-solve together.

- Work in partnership to widen the reach of the company’s work and underpin its support for participants.

- Make theatre for general audiences so a wider public can share in the company’s learning and understanding of the issues faced by homeless people.

- Enable excluded people to develop skills and confidence through projects and workshops.

- Meet the practical needs of homeless and displaced people, supporting them in matters of housing, education, employment, health, career and personal development.

Vision:
- Cardboard Citizens strives to be a world leader in its field, creating great theatre that makes a real and positive difference to our society and those living on its margins.

- They know that theatre can be a catalyst for change, growth and learning for participants and audiences.

- They are working to further develop theatre projects in and out of hostels for a wide range of audiences, focussed on the lives of homeless and displaced people.

- They will be supporting people in diverse ways, helping homeless people to play their part in the world, and society to understand how life is lived on the margins.

- Their ambition is to enable every hostel resident in London to be able to access the company’s work, as audience or participant.

- And to offer all homeless or displace people who become involved with the company individual help and support.

- They will produce theatre-based and site-specific productions on a regular and sustainable basis, telling stories of the excluded.

- Every audience member at a Cardboard Citizens show will learn about issues affecting the displaced and homeless people they work with.

- The company will be fully engaged in national and international networks, where appropriate joining in alliances and campaigns to bring unheard voices to the fore. 

- All their partners, peers and friends will have the opportunity to share best practice, knowledge, skills and expertise, and to travel further with us on Cardboard Citizens’ future journey.

http://cardboardcitizens.org.uk/p1.html

FareShare has been operating since 2004 and today has 12 locations around the UK. Established in 1994 as a project within the homelessness charity Crisis, FareShare aims to help vulnerable groups, whether they are homeless, elderly, children, or other groups in food poverty within our communities.

FareShare helps to improve lives:

In 2008/09, the food redistributed by FareShare contributed towards more than 7.4 million meals.
The FareShare Community Food Network has over 530 Community Members across the UK receiving food, training and advice.
Every day an average of 29,000 people benefit from the service FareShare provides.
As well as redistributing food, FareShare provides a programme of education and vocational training opportunities – the Eat Well Live Well programme.

FareShare Helps The Environment:

The redistribution of food by FareShare minimises surplus food going to landfill.
This redistribution of food helped businesses reduce CO2 emissions by 13,950 tonnes in 2008/09.

FareShare’s New Vision:

Open a further 18 depots, bringing the total number to 30.
Provide nutritious food to 2,500 community organisations and charities.
Redistribute 20,000 tonnes of food per year.
Everyday support 100,000 vulnerable people through food provision; as well as provide training and education through our Eat Well Live Well programme.
Offer 6,000 volunteer opportunities.

http://www.fareshare.org.uk/

After speaking to my friend from Toronto, she explained to be about The Northeast Blackout of 2003. It was a massive widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada on Thursday, August 14, 2003, at approximately 4:15 p.m. EDT (20:15 UTC). At the time, it was the most widespread electrical blackout in history. The blackout affected an estimated 10 million people in Ontario and 45 million people in eight U.S. states.

“A few years ago we had a city-wide blackout that lasted two or three days.  There was no electricity, they had to give food away at the stores because it was going off. People who were neighbours for several years got together in their backyards and shared dinner!  It was amazing. I think this sort of thing should happen once a year on purpose!  We could all get together with a common thread.  Not to mention, it saves so much on the environment.”

If you think about the amount of food you waste, it could be easily shared or reused again, for example as compost heaps. The Ontario blackout forced people to share food, and while not new, food sharing should be publicised a lot more in my opinion. Maybe an ‘organised’ blackout could be arranged monthly, where people have to switch off their fridges in their communities and get together to share all the food.

Brands such as Pret A Manger have already tapped into food sharing for good causes with their Pret Charity Run scheme. They distribute uneaten food at the end of the day from all of their London stores to homeless people around the capital. Over 12,000 meals are distributed every week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003

http://www.pret.com/about/charities.htm