Papa Johns has teamed up with homeless charity NishkamSWAT to deliver food to the needy in Reading.
The chain has made the move following one of its franchisees collaborating with the organisation for some time.
Barny Bains, franchisee for Papa Johns in Shinfield Road, has been working closely with the charity for six years and is now encouraging more local businesses to get involved.
He said: “The Sikh charity NishkamSWAT helps unite and transform financially disadvantaged communities by focusing on projects which make a difference to people’s lives in the short term and improve their prospects in the long term. They provide vegetarian meals through their homeless project and we deliver free pizzas every week.
“However, we are just one of several local businesses supporting the charity and we’d like to invite more organisations to get involved. For us, delivering pizza is a small contribution but it means a lot for disadvantaged people in our community. People queue up for food donations and it shows the importance of the work NishkamSWAT’s team is doing to help those most in need in our community.”
NishkamSWAT, which was awarded a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2019, provides meals on a Wednesday (7pm – 7.50pm) & Sunday (6pm – 6.50pm) evening through their homeless project outside the Old Town Hall.
Rupee Chagar, lead volunteer for NishkamSWAT in Reading, added: “We have around 25 active volunteers, and run purely on donations, serving hot food for 180-200 people in Reading every week. If that’s a family, or someone in a suit struggling on a low income, we don’t judge and welcome anyone in real need. We aim to cook 100 meals at the Sikh temple and Papa Johns and House of Flavours in Reading also donate hot food and we are grateful for their continued support.”
Mr Bains, who has been a Papa Johns franchisee for 11 years and also runs three other Papa Johns stores in the area, said: “Community is so important to us and if we can give something back it is always worthwhile.”
