Solomon Smith, 28, from Brixton, always had an interest in supporting the homeless people in his community, in whatever means possible. When he was in his late teens, he was very much involved with the community. "I've been working for Lambeth youth service for 12 years now. I have been doing it as I just had an urge to work with young people," he told me.
It was clear to me that Smith had a burning desire to help the needy from the start of his journey. He recalled, "When I first had the epiphany in my head, I just got up and I started writing stuff down on a sheet I had stuck up in my room. I said to myself, 'I'm going to go into centres, with no plan, and say this is what I want to do.'
Smith initially ventured out by driving around , delivering donations of clothes and offering hot drinks to people. "All I could afford at the time was tea. I started getting clothes, some cups, and started giving out tea. I was working at the Marcus Lipton centre in Lambeth at the time, so I had to kind of structure my time when I wasn't working," he stated.
Starting up wasn't smooth going for Smith, but he remained persistent in wanting to help the homeless. He said, "I went around Brixton, asking if I could use their centres if they're not using them, and a lot of them said no. I was about to give up, because I thought everyone will just say no. So when I approached the woman behind Southwyck House, she was like 'yeah I'll give you a month's trial and let's make this happen.'
Smith set up 'Brixton's Soup Kitchen' in the winter of 2013, where he was offering the homeless hot drinks and food, in addition to appropriate advice and support "For the first week or two, it was slow. The next week we started opening up at 10am, and I saw like 40 people outside, and I thought, 'how the hell am I going to cope with 40 people'. I was just used to making tea. About three or four weeks later, I got a phone call from Greggs and they were like ' We have seen what you are doing and we want to start donating donuts. The next following Monday, go to your local Greggs, and show them this letter, they sent me a letter via email,' he explained to me.
When he eventually did visit his local Greggs store, Smith was pleasantly surprised. "When I went there, I was expecting couple bags, they gave me three big bags full up of donuts. I was thinking, 'This would fill up the whole estate'. They were like 'Get used to it, that's what you're going to get everyday from now on.' Certainly, to Smith's advantage, other stores started showing interest in distributing surplus food to the soup kitchen he was running. "Then Pret said they're going to donate sandwiches," he said enthusiastically.
Contemplating about when the buzz around Brixton's Soup Kitchen was created, he said, "Once I had an interview from Brixton Blog, that's when everything turned mad. Everyone was contacting me. Stupidly, I gave them my personal number and email address. So even to this day, people still refer to me by saying 'I see you on the Brixton Blog'. But from that, I've gained a lot of contacts. The journey's been crazy."
Thoughtfully comparing his journey then and now, he said, " Right now it's even crazier, we've got Nando's on board now, we've also got KFC on board. Were also launching anew building, so we've actually had to move from Southwyck House to Brixton Social Club. Right now were fixing it up with Prince's trust. So Prince's trust are going to be painting upstairs and we've got a company who contacted me on the weekend that wants to donate appliances. People know us now, that's what we like." He looked around the room we was sitting in within the Brixton Social Club, smiling proudly at me, and the rest of his team present at the interview.
Speaking about his engagement with the youth of the community, Smith said, " We've just done a programme with Platanos college in Stockwell, and that was working with Year eights' and nines'." At this point, the managing co-director of Brixton's Soup Kitchen, Mahamed Hashi, chirped in, "So that was the guy scouts and girl scouts," he said.
Smith explained how these students had secured £200 worth of donations in just two hours, by selling cupcakes in their college. "They came to Greggs. They also wanted to come out with us aswell to see what working in the Soup Kitchen was like. We gave them a quick tour around Brixton. And believe it or not, a lot of them were sceptical about working with the homeless, were the ones who actually wanted to come back. The teacher was saying that the two boys that were saying, 'We don't want to work with them, they're smelly, they're stinky, were the same two boys who wanted to do this with us again.' They were very involved, that's what we like," he said beaming enthusiastically.
In relation to the Open Mic event held on Sunday 29th of June at The Queens Head in Stockwell, with some leading music talent on the night, Smith told me about how it went down. "The event was a blast. To be real, I love going to events and people knowing who I am, not in a big headed way," he joked. Going on, he said, " Sometimes I don't have to explain, they come to me and explain. Lady Leshurr had come up to me, saying 'Oh my god, I came here because I saw Brixton's Soup Kitchen on the flyer.' And for me, that made me feel good, she's an artist that goes around the world touring and for her to say I came here for Brixton's Soup Kitchen, made me feel really good. She didn't take pictures with no one, but she came to me and was like 'Let's take a picture'.
Working as hard as Smith does, it is only right that he has a core team of volunteers. "We had a couple of volunteers down there on the night, with buckets to raise money. They managed to collect £102," he stated.
Solomon briefly explained that there is an event being held on the 26th of July to relaunch the Brixton's Soup Kitchen centre. "We've got press coming down, we should hopefully be going on a media run. Most of the money is going to go towards buying chicken, face painting," he explained.
Last week, Smith announced on social networking site, Instagram, that T-shirts with the logo ' Brixton Soup Kitchen' are now available as part of the brand's clothing line in the shop, Hustle Backs in Brixton Village. "The clothing line has gone absolutely crazy. Everywhere I go, people want them. I've got a family, I work as well, doing a clothing line is hard work," he emphasises.
In mid June, anti-homelessness spikes were introduced on some London streets, to deter homelessness in the city. Smith had responded to this, by posting a picture on his Instagram account, where he is seen sitting on the floor with Hashi and Lambeth youth mayor, Jacqueline Gomez. Underneath the picture, part of the caption read, ' We should be dealing with the causes of homelessness, not punishing the homeless.' Describing his initial response to the anti-homelessness spikes, he said "You're spending money to put anti-homelessness spike son the streets, now were a soup kitchen which runs with no government funding, we're trying to help by aiming to abolish homelessness. You putting spikes there is going to make them angry, it's not going to solve the problem. If you're not going to solve the problem, you're going to create monsters. We're trying to grab the monsters and make them kings and queens. The government is actually trying to crumble that, because were not getting any money, but they're putting it into spikes, so things like that, we hate."
"One of the most hard hitting stories in my journey so far has been meeting people from rich backgrounds, who decide to become homeless. A lot of people have told me that they don't like money, that they can survive without it. Now, in my mind, people do everything for money, and they're doing everything to get away from that. I have done background checks on them and their families are very very rich. I've met a lot of people who just like to travel. There was an actor, who's been in a couple of movies, but he was going through a rough patch,we done a search on him as well," he mentioned.
Hashi added on, "When he came to us, he didn't have a lot of clothes. He had trainers that were too small for him. He had an argument with the people he was living with, so he got kicked out. It was raining that day, so when he took of his trainers, the sole for the foot came off." The issues that the people that arrive at Brixton's Soup Kitchen are often quite complex and alarming. Hashi also went on to describe a particular client's ordeal. " We had another guy from Zimbabwe who contracted aids, and through that, he got another virus and it erased his memories. He was also being physically attacked by the people that he was living with, plus he was gay aswell. We had to contact the police to get him the appropriate help," he said.
"What we find is that in everyone's community, there has been homeless people there for years, to the point that, on social media, you'll have pictures with them with the caption, 'If you don't know .. (insert name of known homeless individual), you are not from Brixton.' One of the reasons why there is stigma attached to homeless people, is that they have been pushed out of the community, even though they are a part of it. Our purpose at Brixton's Soup Kitchen, is to reintegrate the homeless into society," Hashi also said.
Both Hashi and Solomon then went on to say that it is not just homeless people they get coming to Brixton's Soup Kitchen, as they get both the elderly and young people are often out of school. "We just get people who want to be around other people, and feel safe," claims Hashi.
Currently, Brixton's Soup Kitchen are doing Nandos' drop offs to partially homeless people, whom they gain intelligence from former diversity manager, Lee Jasper, who worked for the previous mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. " There's so many people in need, that they start depending on the food you are giving. So you start thinking, 'imagine we wasn't giving out this food, they wouldn't be eating.'
Although Brixton's Soup Kitchen has gained a lot of support, the team mention remark that because the support is not monetary, they are not able to fund the centre as much. They are aiming to expand and become an all-round community support centre, who not only caters to the homeless, but anyone in the community who may be in need of help and support.
On the 18th of July, Brixton's Soup Kitchen are putting on an event called, 'Iftar In The Park' in Max Roach Park, in Brixton, which is basically an event that was consolidated along with Islamic organisations, namely Islam Channel. Interesting to note, is that Smith's 29th birthday will also be on the day of the event. You might want to pop down with some handmade cupcakes to witness the contagious smile of his.
As it is the month of the Ramadan, the event will involve regular people breaking their fast and eating with the homeless. The regular partakers will be charged a minimum of £10 which will contributed towards the soup kitchen.
The Brixton's Soup Kitchen team are also currently in discussion over another up and coming event called 'Sleep Out' which will be situated directly outside Parliament, in the green square. The event will consist of regular citizens sleeping over night outside the Parliament, in order to raise empathy for the homeless. The date for this event has yet to be confirmed.
I would like to congratulate Smith for his outstanding work in the community and I hope he will carry on supporting those in need for as long as he can.
Me and Solomon outside Brixton Soup Kitchen
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Solomon Smith on : solomonsmith2012@hotmail.co.uk
Or alternatively follow him on twitter : BrixSoupKitchen
And on Instagram: brixtonsoupkitchen
Smith initially ventured out by driving around , delivering donations of clothes and offering hot drinks to people. "All I could afford at the time was tea. I started getting clothes, some cups, and started giving out tea. I was working at the Marcus Lipton centre in Lambeth at the time, so I had to kind of structure my time when I wasn't working," he stated.
Starting up wasn't smooth going for Smith, but he remained persistent in wanting to help the homeless. He said, "I went around Brixton, asking if I could use their centres if they're not using them, and a lot of them said no. I was about to give up, because I thought everyone will just say no. So when I approached the woman behind Southwyck House, she was like 'yeah I'll give you a month's trial and let's make this happen.'
Smith set up 'Brixton's Soup Kitchen' in the winter of 2013, where he was offering the homeless hot drinks and food, in addition to appropriate advice and support "For the first week or two, it was slow. The next week we started opening up at 10am, and I saw like 40 people outside, and I thought, 'how the hell am I going to cope with 40 people'. I was just used to making tea. About three or four weeks later, I got a phone call from Greggs and they were like ' We have seen what you are doing and we want to start donating donuts. The next following Monday, go to your local Greggs, and show them this letter, they sent me a letter via email,' he explained to me.
Contemplating about when the buzz around Brixton's Soup Kitchen was created, he said, "Once I had an interview from Brixton Blog, that's when everything turned mad. Everyone was contacting me. Stupidly, I gave them my personal number and email address. So even to this day, people still refer to me by saying 'I see you on the Brixton Blog'. But from that, I've gained a lot of contacts. The journey's been crazy."
Thoughtfully comparing his journey then and now, he said, " Right now it's even crazier, we've got Nando's on board now, we've also got KFC on board. Were also launching anew building, so we've actually had to move from Southwyck House to Brixton Social Club. Right now were fixing it up with Prince's trust. So Prince's trust are going to be painting upstairs and we've got a company who contacted me on the weekend that wants to donate appliances. People know us now, that's what we like." He looked around the room we was sitting in within the Brixton Social Club, smiling proudly at me, and the rest of his team present at the interview.
Speaking about his engagement with the youth of the community, Smith said, " We've just done a programme with Platanos college in Stockwell, and that was working with Year eights' and nines'." At this point, the managing co-director of Brixton's Soup Kitchen, Mahamed Hashi, chirped in, "So that was the guy scouts and girl scouts," he said.
Smith explained how these students had secured £200 worth of donations in just two hours, by selling cupcakes in their college. "They came to Greggs. They also wanted to come out with us aswell to see what working in the Soup Kitchen was like. We gave them a quick tour around Brixton. And believe it or not, a lot of them were sceptical about working with the homeless, were the ones who actually wanted to come back. The teacher was saying that the two boys that were saying, 'We don't want to work with them, they're smelly, they're stinky, were the same two boys who wanted to do this with us again.' They were very involved, that's what we like," he said beaming enthusiastically.
In relation to the Open Mic event held on Sunday 29th of June at The Queens Head in Stockwell, with some leading music talent on the night, Smith told me about how it went down. "The event was a blast. To be real, I love going to events and people knowing who I am, not in a big headed way," he joked. Going on, he said, " Sometimes I don't have to explain, they come to me and explain. Lady Leshurr had come up to me, saying 'Oh my god, I came here because I saw Brixton's Soup Kitchen on the flyer.' And for me, that made me feel good, she's an artist that goes around the world touring and for her to say I came here for Brixton's Soup Kitchen, made me feel really good. She didn't take pictures with no one, but she came to me and was like 'Let's take a picture'.
Working as hard as Smith does, it is only right that he has a core team of volunteers. "We had a couple of volunteers down there on the night, with buckets to raise money. They managed to collect £102," he stated.
Solomon briefly explained that there is an event being held on the 26th of July to relaunch the Brixton's Soup Kitchen centre. "We've got press coming down, we should hopefully be going on a media run. Most of the money is going to go towards buying chicken, face painting," he explained.
Last week, Smith announced on social networking site, Instagram, that T-shirts with the logo ' Brixton Soup Kitchen' are now available as part of the brand's clothing line in the shop, Hustle Backs in Brixton Village. "The clothing line has gone absolutely crazy. Everywhere I go, people want them. I've got a family, I work as well, doing a clothing line is hard work," he emphasises.
In mid June, anti-homelessness spikes were introduced on some London streets, to deter homelessness in the city. Smith had responded to this, by posting a picture on his Instagram account, where he is seen sitting on the floor with Hashi and Lambeth youth mayor, Jacqueline Gomez. Underneath the picture, part of the caption read, ' We should be dealing with the causes of homelessness, not punishing the homeless.' Describing his initial response to the anti-homelessness spikes, he said "You're spending money to put anti-homelessness spike son the streets, now were a soup kitchen which runs with no government funding, we're trying to help by aiming to abolish homelessness. You putting spikes there is going to make them angry, it's not going to solve the problem. If you're not going to solve the problem, you're going to create monsters. We're trying to grab the monsters and make them kings and queens. The government is actually trying to crumble that, because were not getting any money, but they're putting it into spikes, so things like that, we hate."
"One of the most hard hitting stories in my journey so far has been meeting people from rich backgrounds, who decide to become homeless. A lot of people have told me that they don't like money, that they can survive without it. Now, in my mind, people do everything for money, and they're doing everything to get away from that. I have done background checks on them and their families are very very rich. I've met a lot of people who just like to travel. There was an actor, who's been in a couple of movies, but he was going through a rough patch,we done a search on him as well," he mentioned.
Hashi added on, "When he came to us, he didn't have a lot of clothes. He had trainers that were too small for him. He had an argument with the people he was living with, so he got kicked out. It was raining that day, so when he took of his trainers, the sole for the foot came off." The issues that the people that arrive at Brixton's Soup Kitchen are often quite complex and alarming. Hashi also went on to describe a particular client's ordeal. " We had another guy from Zimbabwe who contracted aids, and through that, he got another virus and it erased his memories. He was also being physically attacked by the people that he was living with, plus he was gay aswell. We had to contact the police to get him the appropriate help," he said.
"What we find is that in everyone's community, there has been homeless people there for years, to the point that, on social media, you'll have pictures with them with the caption, 'If you don't know .. (insert name of known homeless individual), you are not from Brixton.' One of the reasons why there is stigma attached to homeless people, is that they have been pushed out of the community, even though they are a part of it. Our purpose at Brixton's Soup Kitchen, is to reintegrate the homeless into society," Hashi also said.
Both Hashi and Solomon then went on to say that it is not just homeless people they get coming to Brixton's Soup Kitchen, as they get both the elderly and young people are often out of school. "We just get people who want to be around other people, and feel safe," claims Hashi.
Currently, Brixton's Soup Kitchen are doing Nandos' drop offs to partially homeless people, whom they gain intelligence from former diversity manager, Lee Jasper, who worked for the previous mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. " There's so many people in need, that they start depending on the food you are giving. So you start thinking, 'imagine we wasn't giving out this food, they wouldn't be eating.'
Although Brixton's Soup Kitchen has gained a lot of support, the team mention remark that because the support is not monetary, they are not able to fund the centre as much. They are aiming to expand and become an all-round community support centre, who not only caters to the homeless, but anyone in the community who may be in need of help and support.
On the 18th of July, Brixton's Soup Kitchen are putting on an event called, 'Iftar In The Park' in Max Roach Park, in Brixton, which is basically an event that was consolidated along with Islamic organisations, namely Islam Channel. Interesting to note, is that Smith's 29th birthday will also be on the day of the event. You might want to pop down with some handmade cupcakes to witness the contagious smile of his.
As it is the month of the Ramadan, the event will involve regular people breaking their fast and eating with the homeless. The regular partakers will be charged a minimum of £10 which will contributed towards the soup kitchen.
The Brixton's Soup Kitchen team are also currently in discussion over another up and coming event called 'Sleep Out' which will be situated directly outside Parliament, in the green square. The event will consist of regular citizens sleeping over night outside the Parliament, in order to raise empathy for the homeless. The date for this event has yet to be confirmed.
I would like to congratulate Smith for his outstanding work in the community and I hope he will carry on supporting those in need for as long as he can.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Solomon Smith on : solomonsmith2012@hotmail.co.uk
Or alternatively follow him on twitter : BrixSoupKitchen
And on Instagram: brixtonsoupkitchen