Alex Speaks to The Whitechapel Centre's Julianna

Unfortunately for thousands of runners and supporters based across the United Kingdom, the 2020 Liverpool marathon was cancelled due to the global Coronavirus pandemic. This measurement was put in place to help ensure that crowds of people aren’t in close proximity with one another, a haven for bacteria and germs to spread. However, that isn’t going to stop our CEO and avid runner, Alex. Now although there isn’t going to be a designated route with crowds cheering him on, he is still running the exact path that was originally laid out for the runners to ensure all 26 miles are there, and will have full support from everyone at the MyFreshBox HQ.

Alex is a man who loves helping out others and will always do what he feels right within every aspect of life. With already donating 50 meals a week (2600 a year!) to and collaborating with The Whitechapel Centre, he wanted to help out even more, and what better way to do so than participating in one of the hardest challenges for a runner.

A few weeks ago, Julianna from The Whitechapel Centre caught up with Alex and asked him a few questions regarding how everything’s been going, with My Fresh Box, the charity collaboration and the run, here’s what he had to say;

Julianna: Tell us a bit about yourself/your background.
Alex: I’m Alex, the owner and founder of My Fresh Box. Before starting this up, I was a chef for 12 years up and down the country working in Michelin star, then Rosette restaurants. I then decided to open up MFB in 2018 following a similar role I was doing for a few friends of mine. I enjoy football, boxing, running and spending time with my family, nothing out of the ordinary really but keeping fit has definitely been a passion of mine.

Julianna: What made you start up My Fresh Box?
Alex: I was quite ill in the summer of 2017, dropping weight down to just under 8 stone. I then started training with a PT who advised I got my nutrition on track (being a chef funnily enough hindered this due to the long and high demanding workload and long hours). I then saw my PT was using a meal prep company who weren’t really providing him with a very good quality of meals, so I just thought that I could do it for him, probably saving him money and giving him better dishes. So I started doing this for him and then a few of his fellow gym PTs also asked for some. This just sort of snowballed from there really, fast forward two years and we’re delivering to all over the UK and rapidly expanding month by month.

Julianna: Why did you choose to support The Whitechapel Centre? 
Alex: Homelessness in Liverpool has always been something that troubles me, a few years back in a restaurant, myself and a few of the kitchen staff spent our night off preparing and cooking Christmas dinners for some of the rough sleepers in the city centre. Upon realising we were getting a bit of food waste in the kitchen at MFB, me and the staff decided to utilise it in a better way than eating it ourselves or simply throwing it out. We then got in touch with the guys down in The Whitechapel Centre and came up with a solution of 50 meals per week and it’s going great so far. It really does feel amazing to receive the feedback from the guys at the charity and hear about what a positive impact it’s having on the lives of some of those they help out.

Julianna: How are you partnering with The Whitechapel Centre?
​Alex: We’re donating meals twice a week to them, as well as trying to raise some awareness with our social media posts and stories. Whilst chatting to the team, they mentioned donations have dropped this year due to Covid-19, and a lot of corporate events and fundraisers have been cancelled which unfortunately has really affected The Whitechapel Centre and their income. I’ve decided to raise money myself by running a full marathon with my little sister on the Saturday 24th October, I hope this will help to contribute towards what they need.

Julianna:  Is this your first marathon? Why did you choose to do a marathon?
Alex: Yes, this is my first full marathon, although I ran the Liverpool half marathon a couple of years ago. I’ve always enjoyed running, and obviously a marathon is a massive task but I think pushing myself to that limit will hopefully make people aware of the commitment everyone involved with the charity puts in and encourage them to donate to this amazing cause.

Julianna: What will you be eating to fuel your training?
Alex: Luckily enough I own a meal prep company so mostly the meals from My Fresh Box, consisting of plenty of carbs for the first few weeks of training to keep my energy up, but then try and cut a bit of weight a few weeks beforehand so I’ll then follow a low calorie diet. I train in the gym three times a week and I am running two to three times a week, plus working seven days a week so I need plenty of energy. I really am quite lucky in the sense that I have access to high quality food, and I know for a fact that the meals I’ll be having are brilliant, and not just processed food you get with a lot of other meal prep companies.

Julianna: How can people help?
Alex: At the moment, donating to the page and sharing it across your social channels would be a great help. Closer to the time we’ll probably be looking for some volunteers to hand out water and food gels to us whilst were running and give us plenty of support on our route. We’re hoping to set up a big finish line at The Whitechapel Centre so any support is greatly appreciated. However, this isn’t just a one-time thing and any support for the charity in the long run would be brilliant and greatly appreciated.

If you would like to make a contribution to Alex and this wonderful cause to help tackle homelessness in Liverpool, then please visit https://www.justgiving.com/team/marathonrun. Any shares of this link are also greatly appreciated, as we are trying our best to not only help raise funding for this charity, but also awareness, so every little really does help.