Tin on a Wall
1708. Lucy Hearn
Lucy Hearn, from North Tyneside, set up ‘Tin on a Wall’ campaign in response to the pandemic, encouraging residents in nearly 500 streets across the local area to leave non-perishable food donations out on their doorsteps on a monthly basis to go towards vulnerable and isolated people.
Lucy was inspired by having seen on social media a similar campaign run by ‘Risca’, a volunteer group in Wales, who collected enough goods in a single night to stock a foodbank for 6-9 months, and realised that a similar concept would be of huge benefit to people facing hardship in North Tyneside. Starting with 30 streets in June 2020, the campaign has since continued, taking place on the first Saturday of every month, and widened across the North East, with Lucy building a team of volunteer “Street Champions”, to help share messaging on specific streets, run collections and further develop community connections with their neighbours.
In a personal letter to Lucy, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
“Thank you for your fantastic initiative ‘Tin on a Wall’. It is such a brilliantly simple idea allowing people to walk to the end of their garden and donate a tin of food to someone else in need.
“You have encouraged a staggering 500 streets in your local community to get involved, feeding thousands of people across North Tyneside. It is inspiring to see the expansion of your work into Gateshead and Newcastle-upon-Tyne which will help countless others.”
In response to receiving the award, Lucy said:
“This is fantastic recognition of everyone’s hard work. Food is a basic need and no one should ever go hungry. The North East is working together to end hunger and by doing so we have made a difference to so many people in so many ways. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible and a special thanks to Joanne Scorer our volunteer coordinator who works tirelessly to ensure a smooth process.”
Pictured above: Lucy (left) with Joanne Scorer, volunteer coordinator for the campaign