Food Champions of Hastings and St Leonards: Rima Sams: Founder and Director of Sustenance
Edwina Hughes
Welcome to a new series profiling brilliant food champions in our local community.
This series will feature conversations with people involved in the food system locally – from farmers to chefs, from teachers to social entrepreneurs. So if you are a food champion or you know a food champion who should feature in this series, please get in touch with us.
This week, we meet Rima of Sustenance who will tell us more about the support Sustenance provides to people living in food poverty in Hastings and Rother.
What’s your mission?
Our mission is four-fold: to reduce food waste, reduce food poverty, improve nutrition and build community.
We are passionate about championing healthy eating and supporting those experiencing food poverty living in Hastings and Rother.
What do you do?
We provide a nutritious hot three course meal once a week to people who are living in food poverty in Hastings and Rother. We serve 55+ hot meals and distribute 65+ grocery bags every week to our guests, supporting our mission to provide dignified, nutritious support to those who need it most.
What is the back story to your organisation?
Sustenance is a local charity based in Hastings and St Leonards, dedicated to tackling food insecurity in our community. We run a weekly food club and community kitchen at Concordia Hall, where we serve three-course nutritious meals and distribute grocery bags and boxes to individuals and families in need. Much of the food we use is surplus, generously donated by local supermarkets and businesses (helping to reduce unnecessary food waste).
We officially launched in May 2022, beginning with a three-month pilot funded by a grant from Hastings Voluntary Action (HVA). Before starting, we spent time researching existing food services in the area and speaking with other providers. It became clear there was a gap–especially around access to fresh fruit, vegetables, and wholesome meals. The pilot confirmed this: the response was overwhelmingly positive, with many people sharing how difficult it was to afford fresh produce and how much our service helped.
That gave us the impetus to carry on, and within a year, demand had grown so much that we moved to a larger venue–Concordia Hall.
What is the change you want to see in Hastings when it comes to your work?
We’re keen to make fresh fruit and vegetables easier to access, so everyone can enjoy the benefits of good food and healthy eating.
It’s madness that millions of tonnes of good food is wasted by the UK food industry every year. At the same time, millions of people are struggling to afford to eat. We would like this community to become a place where no one goes hungry, no one feels alone, and perfectly good food doesn’t go to waste.
It would be great to see more sustainable ways of thinking about food, to see more people sharing what they have and looking out for each other. Community support is the heart and soul of everything good.
How do you feel about the food scene in Hastings?
For a small seaside town, Hastings and especially St Leonards–punches well above its weight when it comes to great places to eat; Bayte, The Crown, Liban Cast, Shiosai Sushi to name a few. Oh! and for the freshest baked levantine flatbreads–Arta By The Sea in the Old Town.
We’re also particularly lucky in St Leonards to have two fantastic greengrocers: St Leonards Grocery on London Road and Sussex Fruits on Bexhill Road–both real gems for fresh produce.
That said, I can’t help but wish we had a proper farmers’ market, with fresh, seasonal produce from local growers.
What is the best thing about working in food here (in Hastings and the region)?
We’re lucky to be surrounded by exciting, young-person-owned small businesses in the area, like Stonelynk Organics, with their excellent organic veg boxes, or Basil’s Fungi Farm, growing delicious mushrooms right in the heart of Hastings. Both are community-minded and very kindly share surplus with us, when they can.
How does what you are doing link to what others are doing in the community?
We take referrals for our Food Club–We work alongside other food providers, charities, and grassroots groups–sharing resources, knowledge, and referrals. We complement the work of other food providers by offering fresh produce, which many traditional food parcels don’t always include enough of. We also collaborate with local businesses, greengrocers, and growers, who donate surplus or seasonal goods when they can. We have an advice table at Concordia Hall where organisations like Citizens Advice and Energise Sussex can offer help to our members. We can also signpost people to additional support, when needed.
Who in Hastings or the region working in some part of the food scene is your food champion and why?
My current food champions are Sustenance volunteer chefs James & Gaby. They produce the most extraordinary meals week after week for our members. They work tirelessly, always using fresh ingredients, prepared with care and respect.
“ I love the excitement of coming in on a Thursday morning with no idea what ingredients we are going to have, and working out what we can cook for our members in three hours that will be as tasty and nutritious as we can make it ” James
Their commitment to quality and consistency is truly inspiring!
Join Us at Sustenance!
We’re seeking volunteers to help pick up, deliver, pack sort, greet guests and so on. If you’d like to get involved please get in touch. Local businesses can support us by sponsoring our new van and driver for a year helping us reach more people in need. The sponsorship package includes van signage, social media posts, and videos. For more info on volunteering or sponsorship of our brilliant new van please contact [email protected]
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply