The vans that help keep a teenage boy’s memory alive – and why one runner is taking on the London Marathon dressed as one

When Dan Byam Shaw first started driving food delivery vans for the charity created in his late brother’s honor, he noticed how often people would greet the vehicle and say, “Look, there’s Felix.”

The Felix Project’s logo, the imprint of Felix’s own signature on a Mother’s Day card, adorns the bright green delivery trucks that carry surplus salvaged edibles and redistribute them to people in need. Founded in 2016 after 14-year-old Felix died from a rare form of meningitis, the charity has become a vital lifeline for families and communities in London, tackling both food waste and food poverty simultaneously.

Mr Byam Shaw is currently preparing to run the London marathon dressed as one of the charity’s distinctive vans and is attempting a Guinness World Record for the “fastest marathon dressed as a road vehicle”.

he said Independent He said running in his brother’s name was an important way of keeping Felix around, while also raising awareness of the important work the charity does.

“Big green vans are quite different in the part of London where we work,” he said. “Carrying food, getting it to where it’s needed most, preventing waste is a big part of what we do and I’ve always been a big fan of driving vans. So I thought ‘why shouldn’t I run like a van?’ I thought.”

The first few times he heard the vans being referred to as just “Felix” it seemed odd, Mr Byam Shaw explained, “because to me it means something different, Felix is ​​my brother and Felix isn’t there”.

But over the years, he said, he came to see the personal use of his brother’s name as “a really positive thing” and that it helped him feel “in some ways Felix is ​​still here.”

Although the race, held on the last weekend of April, was Mr Byam Shaw’s first marathon, he has completed many races before. He said he trained using weighted vests to simulate the weight of his homemade van costume.

He hopes to break the current world record of 4 hours 21 minutes and 41 seconds. “I’m optimistic that I can actually break this record,” he said.

In past races, Mr Byam Shaw wore the charity’s distinctive logo on a T-shirt and received support from spectators who shouted the name Felix as he ran. He said he hoped the same thing would happen at the end of April, and that he was “excited” to hear his brother’s name performing this challenge that day.

He hopes to raise £20,000 to support the charity; He said there was particular “urgency” due to the project’s recent partnership with FareShareUK, moving this aid from a London-based organization to a national charity. Following the merger, the charity says every £1 raised helps it deliver 2.7 meals.

“This has transformed us from being a charity in London to a UK-wide charity operating in all four countries in the UK,” he explained. “So, as you can imagine, this adds significant additional costs compared to running the charity solely in London.

“So we have a particular urgency in fundraising right now because we have taken on this exciting but also challenging responsibility.”

Also running from the charity are chief executive Charlotte Hill and deputy chief executive Kris Gibbon-Walsh.

Since its inception 10 years ago, the charity, which was founded to keep Felix’s compassion and empathy for those experiencing food poverty alive, has expanded to four warehouses in Enfield, Poplar, Deptford and Acton, before announcing its merger with national charity FareShareUK earlier this year.

Last year the charity rescued over 18,000 tonnes of excess produce from 225 different suppliers and redistributed the equivalent of 44 million meals to more than 1,200 community organizations and primary schools in London. Food supported an estimated 439,387 people each week, according to the 2025 impact report.

Supported by in 2020. IndependentThe award-winning Aid to the Hungry campaign we run in partnership with our sister newspaper London StandardThis helped Project Felix raise an incredible £12 million and led to a quadrupling of food redistribution.

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

You can donate to the fundraiser Here.