Standing with migrant communities in Kingston: Migrant Advocacy Service

Migrant communities often face a wide range of challenges, from navigating complex immigration systems to secure stable housing, employment, and access to essential services. Many arrive seeking safety, stability, and new opportunities, yet they often encounter significant barriers, including food insecurity, isolation, and a lack of community support. For those placed in temporary accommodation – especially families with children – these struggles are even more acute, as they frequently lack access to cooking facilities and nutritious meals.

Migrant Advocacy Service is dedicated to providing holistic support for migrant and resident communities through advice, guidance, and community outreach. For many migrant families living in temporary accommodation, accessing nutritious food is a daily struggle, as they often lack cooking facilities and resources to prepare meals.

To address this urgent need, we are proud to have funded their kitchen and hot meal provision, ensuring that vulnerable families have the opportunity to enjoy hot meals. This initiative builds upon their existing community lunch programme, which has already provided asylum seekers and migrants with food, social connection, and access to wellbeing activities.

Previously, the organisation hosted a community lunch near an asylum hotel, where residents could gather for a shared meal and participate in free activities and support sessions. Some attendees even expressed a desire to cook their own meals, and the programme accommodated them whenever possible. However, with the asylum hotel now repurposed as temporary accommodation – without any cooking facilities – there is an increasing need for access to kitchen space.

In response, the programme will be expanded to allow residents of the hotel to book time to cook their own meals, eat in a communal setting, or take their food back to their rooms. In addition to meal provision, families will be encouraged to participate in wellbeing activities designed to foster social inclusion, reduce isolation, and provide essential support during challenging times.

The organisation said:

“The project has enhanced many lives considerably and we are very happy to have been able to deliver the project. When the service users are in the kitchen, they are visibly relaxed and happy, enjoying the familiarity of being in a fully equipped kitchen, which makes them feel normal again. We have a play area where the accompanying children can play, and it was nice for them to be able to be together in a relaxed environment.”

They also shared a few anonymous case studies:

“One lady has been evicted from her home as it had been repossesses following marriage breakdown and her ex-husband not paying the mortgage for around three years. She was with us for about 4 months until she managed to get out of the hotel into self-contained accommodation.”

“A young asylum-seeking lady was obsesses with making chocolate brownies and cookies. She seemed to greatly enjoy this and did so for several weeks, with chocolate spread being the main thing she requested. Staff said the brownies were really good and she seemed to gain gain great satisfaction from making them. Maybe it has been her hobby back home before her life was interrupted.”

By funding this initiative, we are helping to ensure that migrant families facing hardship are not only fed but also given the dignity, choice, and community support they deserve.

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