'I've seen families struggling to get by' - young people run community soup kitchen (From Haringey Independent)

Young people run community soup kitchen in Tottenham

1:40pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in News By Bruce Thain

A soup kitchen organised by young people served food and drinks to families as part of a community project last night.

The team of ten, from the age of 13 to 24, organised the soup kitchen project at the Triangle Centre, in St Ann’s Road, Tottenham, aiming to help people in the community struggling to get enough money to eat.

The soup kitchen was organised entirely by the team, as part of a community project by Education 2Day, giving them skills in management, promotion and cooking.

George Palmer, 20, from Downhills Park Road, Tottenham came up with the idea to host the kitchen.

He said: “I’ve live in Tottenham my entire life and I’ve seen a lot of homeless people on the street and families struggling to get by.

“What I wanted to do was set up a soup kitchen to give them some relief. There is a real problem out there and parents are going hungry to feed their children so we just want to help where we can.”

Education 2Day is a social enterprise group running projects for young people, some still in, and giving them skills to help them find jobs in later life.

Mr Palmer added: “I’ve learnt so much since I’ve been involved with the project and it’s great to be part of a team and create something of your own.

“Because we’re all different ages we’ve all learnt a lot from each other and it’s been really good for all of us.”

The group’s soup kitchen will be held every Wednesday at the centre for six weeks and the organisers hope to be able to make it permanent.

Rob Garrett, director of Education 2Day, said: “I’m very proud of all of our young people. They’ve organise this entire event because they really want to give something back to the community.

“Our ethos is to help organise projects by young people for the community which can really make a difference.”

The group also worked with the borough’s food bank to make sure they targeted the right people and nearby supermarkets who donated food.