May 10, 2018 12.38 pm This story is over 70 months old

Curry kitchen helping feed people in crisis

Customers get a meal token to donate to those in need.
Husband and wife team Derek Clements and Fiona Duerden at Curry Jacks with their foodbank collection pot. Photo: Joseph Verney for The Lincolnite

A curry kitchen in Lincoln has created a scheme in partnership with a local food bank to help feed people in crisis.

Curry Jacks husband and wife team – Pakistani national Derek Clements and Grimsby-born Fiona Duerden – have created a scheme where if you buy a meal at £5 there will be an option to buy another for someone else by purchasing a token for the same price.

This can then be put in the Lincoln Trussell Trust food bank collection pot at their stand in Lincoln Central Market, which will be collected as often as is needed.

Curry Jacks will also add an extra token themselves for every 10 that the people of Lincoln donate.

Curry Jacks meal tokens as part of a pay it forward scheme.

The menu changes daily and always includes a vegan option, and tokens are valid for any meal irrespective of price.

The pay it forward scheme began on the Curry Jacks Facebook page and had huge attention. One of their customers kick-started the idea by donating 20 tokens.

Curry Jacks opened in Lincoln’s Central Market in November 2017, serving spicy fresh home-cooked favourites and crispy jacket potatoes from £5.

Fiona told The Lincolnite: “If people are struggling it is hard enough to ask for food, and to then cook it is an extra stress, so we figured we can take that bit of stress away.

“We’ve had regular customers supporting it and we’ve had a few people most days, so if we keep it going throughout the year it would be fab. Nobody wants to see people in Lincoln go hungry”.

The Lincoln foodbank on Newland is run in partnership with local churches, facilitated by Acts Trust. It is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by the Trussell Trust.

In the last year, the foodbank gave 1,182,954 three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis.

Mike Fowler of Lincoln Foodbank said: “I think this is a great initiative. We’d love to create partnerships with more businesses in the city in similar ways”.