Call centre staff help to Feed The Homeless

Scenes from a previous Feed The Homeless event - the Muslim community who broke their fast to share food with the homeless on the Flag Market in Preston

The event, to be held on Preston’s Flag Market, will run from around 7pm on Thursday, June 30.

Shifa Patel and Famida Member, who work in human resources for Hinduja Global Solutions UK Ltd in Tulketh Mill, have done most of the organising.

Shifa said: “We’ve been to this event in previous years but haven’t organised it before.

“We were talking about it at work and our HR manager said it would be a good thing to get behind.

“The company is always looking to do something to help in the community and get everyone together.”

The team will be serving food for homeless people on the Flag Market, to be eaten on the steps of the war memorial. If it is raining, a gazebo will be erected.

After the meal, the organisers will be talking to the homeless about their experiences on the streets, and will be offering boxes of food and goods for them to take away.

Shifa added: “The reason we do it in Ramadan is because we can understand how it feels to be hungry.

“At the end of the night, around 10pm, people who have been fasting for Ramadan will be breaking their fast with the homeless people.

“We’re hoping for a good turn-out, a good amount of people to volunteer helping on the Flag Market, keeping the area tidy and making sure there’s no trouble - though there hasn’t been in any previous years.”