A Low Fell restaurant is marking the nationwide Clap for Carers by delivering dozens of meals to frontline heroes every Thursday.
Nafiza’s Indian restaurant is making special deliveries to care home workers, paramedics, firefighters, and hospital staff to say thank you for their sacrifices during the coronavirus crisis.
The eatery, which has stayed open with a takeaway service only during lockdown, says kitchen staff are preparing 50 of the “best possible” dinners each Thursday to help “bring a smile” to hard-working carers across Gateshead.
Owner Akla Rahman said: “We got in touch with the QE Hospital at first and they told us that they had a lot of food coming in from all over the place, so we thought it would be best to find out who was missing out and that was care homes. Staff there have been putting their lives at risk and they deserve this gesture.
“It has been tremendous to see how it has been received, people have been in tears.
“Ramadan is a time of giving, and each and every one of us takes pride in what we are doing here.
“This is a time when we need to encourage one another to bring a smile to people’s faces, especially those critical frontline staff who are putting their lives at risk.”
As well as making donations on a rotating basis to 14 care homes in Gateshead, meals have also been sent to Gateshead Community Fire Station, the ambulance service, and the A&E department at the QE Hospital.
Police officers in Gateshead will also be getting a delivery this week, while local firm Mark’s Taxis has stepped in to help make the deliveries for free.
Mr Rahman, brother of Newcastle deputy mayor Habib, added: “Since the lockdown began we decided to close the restaurant, but to operate as a takeaway. We consulted with our three kitchen staff, they rely on their jobs as a source of income, and they were comfortable to continue working safely.
“We are not allowing anyone to come in and collect, we are doing deliveries only and we have employed a couple of additional drivers to help with that.
“Although the business has obviously taken a dip we are still ticking along enough to pay our staff and provide a service.”
