A former career criminal has joined forces with Liverpool city council and voluntary groups to help feed children during the school holidays.
Chris Brown, from West Derby , vowed when he came out of prison last year that he would put his energy back into the community.
That’s when the 38-year-old decided to start social enterprise café the Gourmet Social Enterprise, in The Marian Square, Bootle .
All profits made from the café go into a new project, Holiday Hunger, that feeds children who would normally rely on a school meal.
Speaking to the ECHO, Chris said: "When I was in prison I did my catering qualifications and it was something I wanted to go into when I came home.
"Towards the end of my sentence, I had an idea that I wanted to do something that made some type of social impact and naturally it was something to do with catering.
"I managed to fall into the café by luck, then it all started from there."
Chris was locked up for five and a half years after pleading guilty to his role in a £17million Class A drugs operation.
But after picking up his catering qualification behind bars, he put his new skills and mindset towards helping the city’s most deprived.
Together with other voluntary groups such as Can Cook, he supplies up to 500 hot meals every day.
He told the ECHO that he couldn't have done any of it without the support from positive influences on his life, including Mike Smith from Open Media and his friends and family.
Chris said: "The day I came home [I had to make a decision] to just flip everything on its head and change every aspect, from rising at 5 o'clock in the morning, to practising yoga and my whole circle of friends.
"I realised I was never going to go back there again and I was never going to commit crime again."
Watch our video speaking to Chris above as he describes his Holiday Hunger project.
For more information or to donate towards the Holiday Hunger project, visit www.gofundme.com/f/holiday-hunger-liverpool
