The vans that assist hold a teenage boy’s reminiscence alive – and why one runner is taking over the London Marathon dressed as one | EUROtoday

When Dan Byam Shaw first started driving meals supply vans for the charity created in honour of his late brother, he was struck by how usually individuals would greet the car saying: “Look, Felix is here.”

The Felix Project’s emblem, a hint of Felix’s personal signature on a Mother’s Day card, adorns the brilliant inexperienced supply vans that transport rescued surplus good-to-eat meals and redistribute it to individuals in want. Founded in 2016 after 14-year-old Felix died of a uncommon pressure of meningitis, the charity has develop into a key lifeline for households and communities throughout London, tackling each meals waste and meals poverty concurrently.

Mr Byam Shaw is now getting ready to run the London marathon dressed as one of many charity’s distinctive vans, and is searching for a Guinness World Record try for the “fastest marathon dressed as a road vehicle”.

He advised The Independent that working carrying his brother’s identify is a vital approach of maintaining Felix with him, in addition to elevating consciousness of the vital work the charity does.

“In the part of London which we work, the big green vans are quite distinctive,” he stated. “They’re a big part of what we do, moving food around, getting it to where it’s needed most, preventing waste, and I’ve always been a big fan of driving the vans. So I thought, ‘why not run as a van?’”

The first few instances Mr Byam Shaw heard the vans known as merely “Felix”, it felt unusual “because for me, that carries a different meaning, Felix is my brother and Felix isn’t there,” he defined.

But over time, he stated he has begun to see the private use of his brother’s identify as a “really positive thing”, serving to him really feel that “in some ways, Felix is still here”.

The race, which takes place on the final weekend of April, is Mr Byam Shaw’s first marathon, though he has accomplished a number of races earlier than. He stated he has been coaching utilizing weighted vests in a bid to simulate the burden of the selfmade van costume.

He is hoping to smash the present Guinness World Record for the “fastest marathon dressed as a road vehicle”, which stands at 4:21:41. “I’m optimistic that I might actually be able to break this record,” he stated.

In previous races, Mr Byam Shaw has worn the charity’s distinctive emblem on a T-shirt, and loved help from spectators who shouted the identify Felix at him whereas he ran. He stated he hopes the identical factor will occur on the finish of April, and is “excited” to listen to his brother’s identify as he carries out the problem on the day.

He is hoping to boost £20,000 in help of the charity, which he stated has a selected “urgency” due to the venture’s latest partnership with FareShareUK, taking them from a London-based organisation to a nationwide charity. Following the merger, the charity says each £1 raised helps them ship 2.7 meals.

“It has taken us from being a London charity to a UK-wide charity operating in all four nations all across the UK,” he defined. “So, as you can imagine, that comes with significantly added costs compared to running the charity just in London.

“So there’s a particular urgency towards any of our fundraising at the moment because we’ve taken on this exciting but also challenging responsibility.”

Also working from the charity are chief govt Charlotte Hill and deputy chief govt Kris Gibbon-Walsh.

Since its inception ten years in the past, the charity, which was based to maintain Felix’s compassion and empathy for these affected by meals poverty alive, has expanded to 4 depots in Enfield, Poplar, Deptford and Acton, earlier than asserting its merger with nationwide charity FareShareUK originally of this yr.

Last yr, the charity rescued over 18,000 tonnes of surplus produce from 225 totally different suppliers and redistributed the equal of 44 million meals to over 1,200 neighborhood organisations and first colleges in London. The meals supported an estimated 439,387 individuals every week, in accordance with its 2025 influence report.

It was backed in 2020 by The Independent’s award-winning Help the Hungry marketing campaign in partnership with the Evening Standardwhich helped the Felix Project elevate an unbelievable £12m and led to a quadrupling of its meals redistribution.

Charlotte Hill, CEO of the newly merged charity, stated: “Felix’s green vans have become a symbol of hope across London. Dan’s challenge captures the spirit of what we do perfectly — turning something practical into something powerful that helps hundreds of thousands of people every day.”

You can donate to the fundraiser right here.