Soup kitchen running out of meals as demand rises

Volunteers at a soup kitchen say they are struggling to keep up with demand as the cost of living crisis continues.

Luton Sikh Soup Kitchen is handing out 150 meals every week, an increase of 50% from when it opened in 2021.

Volunteer Gurch Randhawa said it is "scary" when the team are packing up, "because you realise we've run out of food, and people are still coming".

"It's a really good service", said one visitor. "I can't go without it at the moment - I'm struggling".

The charity was set up by members of the congregation at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara to provide hot meals to people in Luton town centre.

Several local businesses donate surplus food, with some joining the Sikh volunteers on Sundays.

Home cooked food is prepared at the gurdwara, which was opened by King Charles in 2022, and then taken to a stall outside the town hall.

Mr Randhawa said at first, the team handed out 100 meals, “which took us about an hour” to distribute, but that “such is the demand now that we’re serving 150 meals, normally within half an hour”.

“It is sad really, because it shows how the demand has risen”, he added.

One of the people accepting food said she would “suffer” without the soup kitchen.

“I'm homeless and I'm hungry, and they really help. I come down as often as I can.

“It's good that these people do that, very kind of them.”

Asked whether handing out food created dependency, Mr Randhawa said: “We're probably at about 0C now and it's very cold, it's very wet.

"If people are willing to come out in these kind of weather conditions, I don’t think we should judge people who clearly need food.”

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