Why fighting hunger together lights the path to a better future

I have never had to go to bed hungry. That is my privilege and my burden. From a young age, I was taught that privilege must never be wasted. It must be used to serve others.

When someone is hungry, they do not just miss a meal. Hunger chips away at dignity. It silences dreams. It takes away the strength to hope. Feed a person, and you do not just fill their stomach, you remind them they matter. That they belong. That they are seen.

Shared purpose, shared heart

When I first met Sodexo, it was through their work tackling food waste, something we are deeply mindful of every day at Darjeeling Express. But what struck me most was not the policy or the paperwork, it was the women. So many of them, leading, making decisions, owning the room.

As a Muslim woman leading an all-female kitchen, I notice these things. I feel when a space is safe for women. I know when it is real.

So, when I was asked to become the first ever Patron of Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation, I said yes without hesitation. This is not just about feeding people. It is about changing systems, empowering women and building something that lasts. Our missions are aligned.

When you feed a woman, you feed a village

In every home touched by hunger, women are the first to sacrifice. They eat last. They eat least. I have seen this in refugee camps in Iraq, where I have worked with the UN World Food Programme. But you do not need to travel far to see it. Look closely in any British town and it is there, quiet, hidden and heartbreaking.

When you give a woman the tools to feed her family, whether that is food, training, or a job, you give her back her voice, her power, her place at the table.

Supporting women does not just solve today’s hunger. It breaks the cycle for generations.

My voice, my duty

Long before I picked up a ladle, I trained as a lawyer. I have always believed in justice and I have always believed in the power of stories. At my supper clubs, I brought people together to eat and to listen. To learn from grassroots organisations doing extraordinary things.

As Patron, I want to do the same. I want to lift up the voices of the volunteers and the women who are rebuilding their lives. I want to speak out about food insecurity and help people see what is often hidden in plain sight and I want to keep learning—from the Foundation’s two decades of work and from every person I meet on this journey.

Together, we rise!

Volunteering is never a one-way gift. It transforms both the giver and the receiver. Whether it is your time, your resources or your attention, you will make a difference.

Last year, Stop Hunger’s volunteers gave thousands of hours and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds. They rolled up their sleeves, they showed up and they are still showing up.

This work is bigger than all of us. It will carry on long after we are gone. But what we do now, how we choose to act, matters deeply.

So I invite you: Look around you. Listen. Ask how you can help. You do not need to do something grand. Just begin.

No one, no woman, no child, no family, should ever have to face hunger alone.

Find out more about the Stop Hunger Foundation