Littlehampton restaurants donate mountains of food to soup kitchen

Lockdown has been a traumatic time for Littlehampton’s hospitality traders, but also brought out the incredible community spirit that makes our town so great.
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With their tables left empty and their kitchens operating, at best, at a reduced capacity, many went out of their way to use their facilities to support local organisations.

Littlehampton soup kitchen LA Soup-ers has been the beneficiary of the selflessness of two local restaurants, Vardar in Selborne Road and The Locomotive in Lyminster Road.

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Tina Karafilovska is part of the family that has run Vardar for over 42 years and said the restaurant has always supported the local community.

DM1961064a.jpg. The Vardar's (Littlehampton) 40th anniversary. From left Peter Stojanovski, Goran Miteski, Loreta Stojanovski and Tina Karafilovski. Photo by Derek Martin Photography.DM1961064a.jpg. The Vardar's (Littlehampton) 40th anniversary. From left Peter Stojanovski, Goran Miteski, Loreta Stojanovski and Tina Karafilovski. Photo by Derek Martin Photography.
DM1961064a.jpg. The Vardar's (Littlehampton) 40th anniversary. From left Peter Stojanovski, Goran Miteski, Loreta Stojanovski and Tina Karafilovski. Photo by Derek Martin Photography.

“During the pandemic we recognised that people needed help,” she said.

“We decided to help those who were struggling financially through no fault of their own and we believe no-one should go hungry or without food and we wanted to support all those in need.

“We felt the Soupe-rs kitchen were a great asset to the community and we wanted to show our support and help this wonderful group. We provided fresh, homemade soup on a weekly basis in order to support those in need and we hoped that this helped people struggling.”

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Vardar provided fresh soup for Soup-ers, which provides free food from Wick Hall on weekday afternoons.

Wedding catering company Confetti Shower has cooked chili and baked cakes for Soup-ers and voluntary group Free Cakes for Kids also baked tasty treats for the charity.

The soup kitchen also thanked The Locomotive in Lyminster Road for the curries, stews, jacket potatoes and other offerings.

The Locomotive’s landlord, Richard Davey, said helping during the November and most recent lockdowns was a great way to support the community first-hand.

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“I saw people who really needed the food and who needed to see a friendly faced when they collected it,” he said.

A spokesman from LA Soup-ers thanked all of the businesses and individuals who were ‘willing to go the extra mile to support their local community’ while forced to close their doors to the public.