Oliver Bailey (1987) and William Townsend (1989), set up Harvest for Heroes to deliver fruit, vegetables, eggs, bread, milk and pasta to the medical staff fighting the pandemic on the front line in hospitals.
Oliver was spurred on to help because of the help Kings College Hospital gave Oliver and his family. Oliver’s son, Henry, was born with a rare form of spina bifida and might have been unable to walk in the future without intervention whilst still a toddler and Oliver felt he owed a huge debt of gratitude to the neurosurgeon Bassel Zebian and his team who successfully operated for seven-hours enabling his son to make a good recovery.
Seeing NHS workers left facing empty supermarket shelves at the end of their shift he wanted to do something to help.  Although hospitals were flooded with lovely cakes and snacks what was also needed were fresh vegetables, fruit and dairy products to take home after long shifts to save them having to queue up at supermarkets that might be empty. When cafes and restaurants closed because of Covid 19 restrictions food suppliers based in New Covent Garden Market lost their customers and were happy to team up with Harvest for Heroes to deliver free healthy and nutritious food to staff in hospitals.
Crowd funding helped Harvest for Heroes raise nearly £30,000 and Oliver personally visited over 15 hospitals to deliver the boxes of goods..