THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS
THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS Introducing the people behind Marylebone’s vital charities and community organisations: Siobhan Lanigan, CEO of The Food Chain charity Interview: Jean-Paul Aubin-Parvu Portraits: Orlando Gili
29 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94
I’ve been involved with voluntary sector organisations all my working life. I started in a support and training role in the Spitalfields area, helping local people to access employment in the City and the then-developing Canary Wharf. A few years later, I became head of fundraising at London Lighthouse, a centre for people living with HIV and AIDS. It was the 1980s, at the beginning of the HIV pandemic, when we still didn’t really know quite what we were dealing with. After working for lots of different voluntary sector organisations over the years, I returned to the HIV sector in 2013 as chief executive of The Food Chain. It felt like I’d completed a circle: a return to the sector where I’d had the most meaningful impact, supporting people with a condition that is close to my heart. I’ve known so many people who are living with HIV and many who died as a result of it. The Food Chain provides access to food, nutrition support and nutrition education for people living with HIV in London at a time of crisis in their lives. Most people living with HIV can lead a long and healthy life, but for the people we support that’s not the case. They have fallen through the net in terms of living well. By the time they get referred to us, our service users don’t really have access to food, they’re hungry and have empty cupboards at home – if they’ve got a home. We step in at that point of crisis to help get them back on their feet, put them in touch with other support services and give them
