Keighley man combats hunger by paying for more than 10,000 meals for his community

Javid Iqbal, owner of Prestige Motor World and driving school in Keighley said that he was inspired by Marcus Rashford and wanted to take action during the pandemic after seeing people going hungry on the news. He has now handed out over 10,000 meals paid for out of his own pocket, over the past year.

Javid said: "Basically we started doing it during Covid last year, with being laid off work, it was a case of seeing the news and seeing people out there who don't have food. I thought I'd try it and see how it goes. And the first time we did it we had queues of people, they really are in need, I couldn't get my head around it, you can tell people are starving."

Javid pays for a catering company in Halifax to deliver the meals on a Sunday afternoon, which are then packed up by him and his family ready to hand out.

He added: "We get the food delivered at half three and we pack it up for about five, but the queues started at about half three this week, and the food was all gone by about quarter past five, we had run out in record time."

"You have to see it to see how people are just starving, they really are. On Sunday and a gentleman came in and asked for three portions, and asked for me not to pack one up, because he was so hungry, so I gave it to him and he started eating it there and then, you could tell he needed the food and if he didn't I think he would've toppled over, and there was others like it in the queue."

Javid said he plans to continue his 'personal cause' for the foreseeable future. He added: "In a sad way there's such a a demand for it, and i don't want to stop it now. I want to do it until I die now, I want to make it a big cause it's so close to my heart now after doing it for such a long time."

He added: "Everyone's welcome to it. If you need it, come down, we don't ask, we don't judge."

The food is handed out every Sunday afternoon at Prestige Driving School on Keighley High Street.