Pizza firm launch 'A Slice of Support' to help the homeless

Joe Wright, 34 and Ollie Bartlett, 38 own Ojo’s Pizza, a mobile pizza business based in Poole.

Joe, a carpenter and Ollie, a decorator decided to create ' A Slice of Support', a service that allows people to purchase a £6 pizza that will be paid forward to feed someone at the Genesis Centre in Poole.

The duo has partnered with Roots to Roots, a Christian community dedicated to helping the homeless.

The collaboration has helped see many people living rough, fed as a part of Ojo Pizza’s initiative.

Joe said: “When we started the pizza business, we didn't do it to make loads of money, it's just because we're passionate about pizza.

“Then we realized there's a whole community of people that can't try it and we want to share it with as many people as we can.

“For the homeless, our prices are affordable anyway, but they wouldn't be able to have pizza.

“We thought about doing this slice of support project and then we've contacted Roots to Roots and they're on board with it and they said they were happy to get on board.

“When we're going to events and doing weddings and all the different things we do, we encourage people to pay a pizza forward so we can save them up and then pay them to the Genesis centre and give them out to the homeless and vulnerable people."

The duo has big plans for expanding their local business.

Joe added: “Next year we've got a few food festivals, mainly it's around Dorset, but a lot of our work is just in Poole and the pizzas for the slice of support are just for the Genesis Centre in Poole for now.

“We're just trying to generate a bit of interest and it raises awareness for them as well, especially with the weather like this and coming up to December and the colder months.

“It's difficult for the homeless.

“There's a lot of people that are going hungry now.

“If we can give out some pizzas for those people, it's just a nice thing to do."

Donations can be made via Ojo’s Pizza website.