Brixton Soup Kitchen prepares for busy Christmas

BBC

As Christmas approaches, Brixton Soup Kitchen is busier than ever. Set up more than a decade ago to feed homeless people, the charity now serves anyone who cannot afford to eat.

Solomon Smith said he founded the charity with money from his job as a youth worker after being unable to secure funding for the project.

He began helping others after witnessing poverty among his peers as a child. He said: "We got cooked meals every day. It's not until I was actually going to my friend's house, when I realised poverty. I realised that if they didn't go out and steal, they were not eating."

Each month the charity cooks the best part of 7,000 meals - and they never see that demand drop off.

On 21 December, volunteers are not only giving out food, but also toys for local children.

Volunteer Jennifer Wilson grew up on the same council estate as Mr Smith and has known him since she was 10. She said: "There would be children that didn't get a Christmas present and I'd think it was alien.

"This way we can ensure every child has a present to open."

Ms Wilson said the charity also creates secret hampers for those in need.

"Parents will contact myself or Solomon and we deliver a Christmas dinner to the house, outside the door," she said.

"We'll let the parent know that it's there, and then the child doesn't know that it was from a soup kitchen, because some parents are embarrassed."

She added that hampers of food are given to all service users, "so that they feel wanted and they feel appreciated".

Elijah Augustus, one of the soup kitchen's visitors, said it was a "lifeline" for him.

"It's something that empowers you, gives you strength," he said.

Another visitor, Balasubramanian Sathiabaskaran, said he had high blood pressure and chose to save half of his meal and tuck it away for dinner, so he had something to eat later.

Mr Smith said he launched the charity after witnessing the "trauma of growing up" among his peers, who would steal food and clothes.

"I was quite lucky to have my mum and my dad at home, where a lot of my friends didn't even have mum at home," he said.

"If they didn't go out and go into Woolworths and steal school uniform, they're going to school in September with last year's uniform."

The charity's original aim was to feed people who were rough sleeping, but now it supports anyone in need.

"We was getting people coming in saying, I've got a home, but I'm actually struggling," Mr Smith said. "We was getting a lot of young people saying, 'I'm sofa surfing', elderly, who's at home lonely, and single parents who are struggling."

The charity feeds about 200 people a day with food from local shops, supermarket chains and lots of small personal donations.

It will be open on Christmas Day until the Christmas dinner runs out.