Bucks schoolboy sets up free meal service and delivers 5,000 in one year

A schoolboy from Buckingham is celebrating the one-year anniversary since he launched ‘Buckingham Free Meals,’ which provides free hot meals to local people in need.

15-year-old Sulayman felt compelled to act last October when the Government announced it would not be extending the voucher scheme for free school meals over half-term.

When a petition by footballer Marcus Rashford, which received over 1.1 million signatures, also failed to change the Government’s decision, Sulayman began posting messages on community Facebook groups to see if anything could be done locally.

Soon he was flooded with offers to help, and before long Sulayman was at the helm of an organisation that was preparing hot meals at the Community Centre in Buckingham and then delivering them around the town to those who had placed orders online.

To date the service has delivered approximately 5,000 hot meals, as well as providing essential groceries.

Sulayman was keen to stress that while the scheme was initially launched in response to the Government's policy regarding free school meals, the service is open to anyone who needs it.

Mature beyond his years, Sulayman told Bucks Radio: “We didn’t want to discriminate and so over time we began helping the elderly too, especially those who didn’t have family locally and because of lockdown, didn’t have the support they’d had previously.”

In recognition of his contribution to the community of Buckingham during these challenging times, Sulayman recently received the Mayor’s Award and the Rotary Club Award.

Buckingham Free Meals is now so integral to the local area that it is in the process of becoming a registered charity, further cementing Sulayman’s remarkable achievement.

There will be a one-year celebration and fundraising event in November to help keep the scheme going into the new year. Bucks Radio will provide details of this as soon as they are finalised.

If you are interested in helping out the Buckingham Free Meals or would like to know more about it you can visit the Facebook group ‘Buckingham Free Meals’.

The service is temporarily on hold, largely because the Community Centre is currently being used as a vaccination centre, but Sulyaman anticipates starting up again before Christmas.

Sulayman also told us that the good work couldn’t have happened without the help of the following people: Rachel Philip, Julie Jarvis, Costas Peratopoullos, Maria Pata, Robina Ahmed, Alison Johnston and Andrew Jarvis.

[PICTURE: Sulayman]

[PICTURE: Sulayman receiving his community awards]