Coventry foodbank founder awarded MBE

The award, recognising Gavin’s service to the city of Coventry and services to the community particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, comes just days before Coventry Foodbank celebrates its tenth anniversary, having helped over 200,000 people with emergency food parcels since it opened in 2011.

Beyond his work in setting up the foodbank, Gavin Kibble has spent the last ten years aiding charitable work in the including pioneering "Good Neighbours", a befriending service that currently provides friendship to over 345 isolated older people across the city.

During the pandemic, Gavin has spearheaded summer holiday food programmes for over 2,000 of Coventry’s most vulnerable children, and through working with the City Councils HAF programme supported an additional 3,300 children in March this year.

Gavin currently works as the Regional Operations Director for the locally based humanitarian charity Feed The Hungry, who took over the running of Coventry Foodbank in 2021, and remains involved in the operation.

Gavin says, "When I first received the letter, I was extremely surprised. Receiving this recognition from Her Majesty is such an honour. When I set up the foodbank I hoped to provide food for 2,000 people, and knowing that we have just served our 200,000th client is a humbling achievement.

"However, it leaves me heartbroken to see levels of need increase so dramatically. I am constantly astounded by the generosity of donations and the volunteers who have seen to it that, over the ten years the foodbank has been running, not one person has been turned away. Even in the midst of a global pandemic."

The establishment of the food bank was inspired when Gavin's brother found himself in debt in 2008 and sought his help. As a result Gavin resigned his role as the Finance Director of a multinational company to establish a CAP (Christians Against Poverty) Debt Centre in Coventry in 2010. He immediately discovered that many of his CAP clients couldn't even afford food for their families and so Gavin started Coventry Foodbank.

Gavin continues, "I remember being utterly overwhelmed by the demand we experienced when I set up the CAP Debt Centre in the city; families weren't just struggling to make ends meet, they were struggling to afford basic necessities. Time and time again I saw parents desperate, unable to get food on the table. It was clear that the city was crying out for additional support and that a food bank would provide that ."

As well as his work on the ground, Gavin has also been involved in pioneering new initiatives to tackle food insecurity. Following an invitation from Frank Field MP, founder of Feeding Britain, Gavin and Cllr Faye Abbott established Feed Coventry, which led to the successful establishment of Coventry's first Community Supermarket which opened in March 2020. In 2017 Kibble was publicly honoured by Coventry University with an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration for his services to Coventry in regard to his work in relieving food poverty.

The award was recommended by the Prime Minister on the advice of the independent Main Honour Committee following an independent assessment process. In light of this, Gavin's name was included in the Honours List published in the London Gazette on Saturday 12th June and he will take part in an investiture to mark the occasion.

If you would like to find out more about the work of Coventry Foodbank or make a donation please go to https://www.coventryfoodbank.org.uk/life/

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