New cooker at top of charity work menu
Reporter TOP hotel chef Chris Wells is cooking up a new plan – to raise £40,000 for a new kitchen at Newcastle’s West End Foodbank.
It will replace the basic cooking equipment already installed in the former youth club premises, which is virtually worn out from overuse.
Chris, executive chef at the Marriott Gateshead MetroCentre, has put a new stainless steel replacement, including a state-of-the-art cooker, at the top of his charity work menu.
And he is being aided by hotel colleagues who have launched their own fundraising campaign with a series of events in support of the project.
Chris said: “When I saw just how much new equipment was needed at Benwell Lane, I simply couldn’t resist the challenge.”
He recently began supplying 30 servings of soup to the centre three times a week.
But this is not his hotel’s first involvement with the centre because at Christmas he and colleagues from the Gateshead and Gosforth Park Marriotts and two sister properties prepared and served festive meals for around 300 of those in need.
Foodbank boss John McCorry said the helping hand at Christmas and the weekly soup runs were much appreciated by all and that the new kitchen project was definitely the icing on the cake. He said: “Our dedicated team of kitchen volunteers are already being creative and working wonders with two wornout cookers, a tea urn and a microwave so a new kitchen would be amazing.” John said the foodbank was preparing meals for up to 150 people a day after their needs had been assessed and while they were waiting for food parcels to be made.