‘In our big beautiful city, we forget there are people living hungry under the sky’

While most people are putting their feet up and preparing to relax after a week of work, a team of volunteers is getting ready to spend the evening walking the streets of Bristol and caring for those sleeping rough.

Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, regardless of the weather, Feed the Homeless offer their services: a hot meal, warm clothing and a listening ear for those living in the city centre.

Naseem Talukdar is the founder of the charity and he believes that the concept is very simple.

“We bring together people who understand how lucky they are, and who want to give back to society together,” he explains. “Then we do what it says on the tin, we feed the homeless!”

While the idea may be simple, it’s the execution that makes the charity unique. Rather than handing out sandwiches and soup, the Feed the Homeless team provides lovingly crafted home-cooked meals, delivered fresh from the kitchen, alongside fruit, snacks, pastries and hot drinks.

The menu for a typical night, with hot meals prepared by volunteers at home

For Naseem, it’s about more than just providing healthy meals; there is a whole theory around the concept. “It’s our shame. That people are homeless is the failure of the system, it’s not their failure,” he says. “When we see homeless people, we don’t think they are part of our society, we think they are a failure of the system and we try to forget about them.

“In our big, beautiful city we forget that there are people living hungry under the sky. Hopefully, providing home-cooked meals will form a connection between them and us, and we can make them feel like part of our society.”

Volunteers leave food for a rough sleeper in Bristol’s Old City

The operation isn’t only about caring for those in need. Naseem believes that everybody can learn from those in situations less fortunate than our own. “We need to learn to be content with what we have and pass that knowledge along to our generation,” he continues. “Everybody is so stressed out, trying to achieve, trying to gain luxuries and spend. We forget to be grateful for what we have because tomorrow we could be in their shoes.”

Nine-year-old volunteer Amaarah prepares bags to give to the homeless

Among the volunteers is nine-year-old schoolgirl Amaarah Mian-Cudmore, who, with the help of her school friends, has put together 30 backpacks of necessities that she will be delivering to those who need them the most.

“I got a bit worried about people being on the streets when it’s so cold, so I told my mum and she said we can do something about that,” Amaarah says. “I asked the homeless if they needed specific things and they said yes. I went back to my school (Redmaids’ High Junior School) and told my headteacher that we needed to do it. Each year group brought in something different and we made 30 backpacks.”

Alongside the backpacks, Amaarah also organised a school-wide bake sale that managed to raise £130 for the charity. When asked what Amaarah thinks other people could do to help the homeless she says, “I think you should try and help them in whatever way you can.”

Handing out hot meals to people in desperate need in Broadmead

It’s clear that Feed the Homeless is making a difference on the streets of Bristol, and that Bristolians are keen to help the charity achieve its aims: volunteer spaces for their walks are already filled up until the end of April 2018.

While Naseem appreciates the efforts that people make around Homelessness Awareness Week, he emphasises that this is a year-round issue. “At Christmas time a lot of people went out and became charitable but we ended up overfeeding a lot of homeless people and we over-donated,” he says.

“We need to learn to continue the Christmas charity over the whole year. We saw so many people helping over that time that we took a step back and saved our energy, and now across January and February we have made over 1500 home-cooked meals.” It’s an amazing achievement that is undoubtedly saving lives and keeping spirits up on the streets of Bristol.

To find out more about Feed the Homeless visit www.feedthehomeless.org.uk. If you would like to join them on one of their walks, visit www.neighbourly.com/FeedTheHomelessBristol/events.