Selston cafe offers free meals to keep NHS workers going during coronavirus outbreak

Emma, who runs the cafe in the Old Post Office on Alfreton Road, received a donation of £100, with a request that it was used to make meals for NHS workers.

After receiving another £300 in donations, Emma says she will keep the offer going until the stock runs out.

“I’ve got a tab going at the moment, so I’ll keep making the meals until those donations run out,” she said.

“There is a team of volunteers who will deliver orders to hospitals, so staff can just ring through with their order.

“We had a couple of nurses order yesterday who hadn’t had a break in 15 hours.”

Emma added that after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tough new measures to combat the virus, she felt like she had to do something to help.

“There’s a lot of negativity out there, but there’s a lot of people rallying round to help. I wanted to do something positive in all the negativity.

“A volunteer in the village helped to sanitize everything in the shop, and I’m working solo to keep people safe, just going between my home and the shop.

“I’ve been doing hot meals for anyone in isolation with no family or help, and the volunteers have been delivering to them. I’ve made 40 meals in the last 10 days.”

Emma is batch cooking with what ingredients she has on hand, and and so far offered a variety of meals such as chicken curry, cottage pie, lasagne and chilli.

“I’ll keep going until the money runs out. The shop has been open seven days a week – NHS staff need to eat on Sundays still!”

Emma is also collecting donations for the Selston food bank at the Church of Christ on Portland Road, which have dropped slightly since last week.

Selston Sarnis is open 8am until 2pm every day.

You can call the shop on 01773 863974, or call Emma on 07971 730836.

You can also get in touch via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Selston-Sarnies-1085334988231323/