'I had to help': Stockport takeaway boss Mama Flo has fed kids for free all summer

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Florence Coke, or Mama Flo as she’s much, much better known, is getting ready for a very busy day, but she’s been tested over the past 24 hours. Her fryer broke at 4.30pm the day before, and she had to shut the shop and race into Manchester to get a new one. She returned to a huge queue of customers all down the street.

And as of today, her big drinks fridge, which has put in a solid 15 years of hard labour, is also on the fritz. “Why me?!!” she laughs. “Why do these things always happen to me?!!”

She soldiers on, fastidiously wiping down the chrome surfaces in her tiny Caribbean takeaway in Hazel Grove ready for service. Earlier, she was wearing flip flops, but now the serious work has begun, she’s changed into a pair of fluorescent green leather Air Max, matching her bright green Mama’s Flo’s t-shirt and a green baseball cap.

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Today she was up at 4am, as she is every day, and after her daily worship, she began prepping for the last day of the school summer holidays. Her own children are all grown up, but now she has others she wants to help look after.

Since July, she’s been providing free lunches to any kids who want them, in the absence of the free lunches they’d be getting at school, and this is the last day she’ll be doing it. For now, at least, though it’s highly likely she’ll be doing it again soon enough.

Their parents don’t have to buy anything, they can just come