THE first ever Bournemouth Street Kitchen, which has been set up to help the town’s homeless population, launches today.

It aims to support those people living on the streets in Bournemouth who want to get back on their feet.

The event is being held at Richmond Hill St Andrew’s URC Church in St Stephen’s Road this afternoon and the first 100 homeless attending will receive a cooked meal courtesy of Richmond Hill eatery South Coast Roast.

As well as lunch, which is being served from 12noon to 3pm, Street Kitchen will also be offering live music, food bundles and survival gift packs which have been put together by local businesses and supporters.

Event organiser, and owner of Street Kitchen, Suroma Halder, said: ‘Not enough is being done to help the homeless in our town.

“We are seeing so many cases of people finding themselves in such terrible situations nowadays, many of whom have held well respected positions and careers in the past.

“But due to various reasons we see so many people on the streets including ex-military who have done so much for all of us.

“The idea behind Street Kitchen is for local businesses and sponsors to get involved to give something back to the community and help some of these people get back on their feet.

“I am hoping that if we are able to gain a good network of support we can roll ‘Street Kitchen’ out across Dorset and the rest of the country.”

Men’s grooming range ‘Wingman’, which supports Help for Heroes, has donated over 100 items to be included in the survival packs.

Wingman director Simon Maudsley said: “We are pleased to help with such a great event and for such a worthy cause and would love to be part of Street Kitchen events moving forward.

“Hopefully other businesses will be encourage to donate items as well.”

Following Saturday’s launch event the team will be looking at ways to keep the initiative going not only in Bournemouth but across the rest of Dorset.

One of the main aspects the organisers are trying to incorporate into Street Kitchen is counselling and career advice with the hope of getting local businesses to offer work initiatives.

According to Jessica Eaton, from Street Kitchen, the event is aimed at those people who want to get off the streets but have just “found themselves down on their luck”.

“We really want to be able to give those people a little help to find a job and get their old lives back,” added Jessica.

Any businesses of companies who would like to donate items or sponsor the event should email suromahalder@yahoo.com.