Words by Smiley Team
Last Christmas, father of two Verral Paul-Walcott had an encounter that dramatically changed his outlook on helping homeless and disadvantaged people.
He and a group of friends had been cycling in pairs during lockdown, for exercise and to maintain good mental health. Feeling fortunate in such difficult times that they had this diversion, they decided to give back to people in need.
They loaded up three cargo bikes and headed out to central London loaded with snacks, bottled water and warm clothes to support people sleeping rough in the cold.
“I approached a tent and asked if anyone would like some food,” says Verral. “The zip went up and a lady’s head emerged. She was shaking so I offered her some gloves, which she took and hugged to her, like a kid would hug a teddy, and cried.”
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For Verral, this was a pivotal moment that encouraged him to do escalate his efforts further. He searched for ideas for how he could most effectively help people. That was until one evening, after volunteering for a food bank, he was discussing with his wife whether to get a takeaway for dinner when he realised how privileged they were to have this option.
“Cooking with ingredients from food banks can get monotonous and tiring,” he says. “I used to be someone who donated food. But that way people have no choice about what they eat.”
To give homeless and disadvantaged people a more dignified way to access food, he came up with a new currency - special coins with a code on the back assigned to different local businesses around North London.
By leaving money behind the tills of those businesses and distributing the coins, he created a pay-it-forward system for people to have a choice as to what they eat, getting what they want, when they want.
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His initiative has spread to cover several local takeaway shops, including We Are Tottenham Pie and Mash, Mama Gees Kitchen, Juicy Roots, and Chicken Town. A chain of four laundrettes called Time Dry Cleaners also accepts the currency, allowing disadvantaged people to get wash and repair their clothes for free.
Since launching the new currency, Verral hopes to expand to other London boroughs. His work has gained national media attention, followed by messages from people across the world wanting to replicate his initiative where they live.
But this approach to helping people doesn’t require setting up the token system. Although a currency helps encourage others to join in, he suggests anyone can help give people a choice by taking requests for food, paying for what they want and giving them the receipt so they can collect their order whenever it suits them best.
Overall he believes we need to change our outlook in order to build a more altruistic society. “We need to completely reject the narrative that homeless people have dirty clothes just because they’re an alcohol or drug abuser so it’s their own fault. A person who lives that way certainly doesn’t choose to do so,” he says.
Follow Verral’s Street Team page on Facebook. You can also donate to his mobile food bank on JustGiving.
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