With the pandemic hitting those from lower economic backgrounds the hardest, it is more important than ever to look out for those who need it most. “One Million Meals” is a charity initiative started in April by Pakistani immigrant Suleman Raza, with the aim of feeding National Health Services (NHS) doctors, nurses, paramedics and key workers on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Suleman’s idea was not only but much needed to, and it turns out star footballer and celebrity David Beckham agreed.
Much to Raza’s surprise, one of the people who wanted to pitch in was David Becham, the former England soccer captain and a frequent visitor at Raza’s award-winning chain of restaurants, Spice Village.
“As soon as I started the campaign, I thought that I should try Beckham, tell him about the project and see if he could help us,” Raza told Arab News over the phone.
“To be honest, I didn’t have high hopes since I know that celebrities are usually careful when it comes to charity, but I was left speechless,” Raza added.
“As soon as I told him that I was offering free meals to homeless people and NHS workers, he said, ‘That’s the best thing I’ve heard. Tell me what you need from me.’”
David Beckham helps out
David Beckham got the campaign valuable media attention and gave Raza platforms to speak about and raise funds for the initiative through corporate sponsorships and relationships with other restaurants. He even got an endorsement from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
This isn’t Raza’s first time helping out those in need. Raza and his family, who originally hail from Rawalpindi in Pakistan’s Punjab province, are no strangers to helping the community and have silently provided free meals to the poor and homeless for years.
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Raza said he has so far raised over a quarter-million pounds and served “probably more than a million pounds worth” of meals.
“Our aim was never to raise money,” Raza said.
“I treated the whole thing as a way to encourage restaurants and food producers all over the UK to contribute by offering meals.”
In December 2019, Raza launched the ‘No One Eats Alone’ project, which set out to serve warm Christmas meals to homeless and elderly people who were alone over the holidays.
“I’ve been living here for over 20 years and I never thought that the UK had so much poverty,” he said, adding that he frequently sent Zakat, a mandatary form of charity in Islam, to Pakistan, but recently started focusing on those in need in the UK.
It’s amazing to see community members stepping up when times are hard, and we hope Raza’s efforts encourage others to contribute as well.
