Peterborough family prepared 50 free meals for deserving couples

Del Singh, along with his wife Jas and daughters Lachami, Neelam and Karishma spent Sunday, between 7am and 7pm, buying ingredients, cooking, packaging and delivering meals across the city.

The initial idea was to pay for a takeaway delivery for one deserving couple to make the day special but after being inundated with messages, they decided they could do more to help.

Del said: “My wife and I were running in Ferry Meadows on Friday (February 12) and got talking about how it was going to be a strange Valentine’s Day this year but Jas then said that we were still lucky and the maybe instead of buying ourselves little presents that would go off in a few days why don’t we make a nice gesture for someone?

“I put the post on the Coronaheroes Facebook and I was inundated with private messages nominating people and people who had struggled with their health, their relationship, depression and a couple that had their wedding cancelled.

“It made us feel upset and a little rotten, we had chosen our winner but we were made to realise that was just the tip of the iceberg.”

In response, the family decided to go out on Sunday morning and buy all of the ingredients necessary to make meals for most the couples that got in touch, these consisted of samosas, chicken curry, lentil dahl, naan and some sweets and chocolate as a treat.

Each meal also came with a hand-written note along with allergy information attached to make sure everyone could enjoy the meal safely.

Del, Jas, Neelam and Lachami then set off to get the meals delivered.

“Del added: I was absolutely exhausted when I got home, I think we were delivering for about five hours. I probably drove more in the day than I had for the last three months. I was doing drops to Bretton, Orton, Stilton, Whittlesey, so really covering the miles, only to find myself back five doors down from a house I’d just visited.

“The whole process left us feeling really contented though but taught us an important lesson. Everyone was so grateful but one delivery stands out.

“Lachami passed the food to a lady who thanked her and just as she was going, a 6-year-old popped his head round the door and said ‘have me got dinner tonight mummy?’”

“That left me feeling broken and really made me think, does that mean there are some nights they don’t have dinner at all? It made us all realise how lucky we are and as Lachami, who has a son of a similar age, said we’re so lucky we don’t have to think about things such as that and if we want food we can just go onto an app and get it.

“The pandemic has put so many people in this position and we’re just so grateful for all we have and wanted to pay some of that forward.”

Del and Jas have both recently fought off Covid themselves, with Del particularly suffering with shortness of breath and now having recovered hopes to see more people join the community effort to help beat the virus.

He said: “We’re just trying to do our little part to help. So many people have been delivering meals and doing other great things but it shouldn’t just be on the same people all of the time.

“It would be nice to see more people out there making a difference and giving people hope.”