SELFLESS Trowbridge Mosque members and volunteers opened a soup kitchen to help people suffering from the heavy snow and freezing temperatures.

As the snow started hurtling down, trustees and members of the mosque sprang into action, racing out to buy food and cooking soup and making sandwiches, ready for people who needed it most.

So on Friday and Saturday, the helpers served the homeless, as well as handing out warm clothes, at the mosque in Longfield Road.

Trustees went out in the town, looking for rough sleepers to offer them shelter and food, away from the snow and sub-zero temperatures.

Mosque trustee Ahmed Berkane, said: “This was a brilliant weekend for us. The reaction and warmth we received from so many appreciative people was incredible.

“It is all about helping out your community and helping those less fortunate than ourselves.

“We had people out looking for the homeless to bring them here and hopefully they will come later on.

“We decided to do this on Thursday night. We thought the shops would be closed, and the weather is going to be getting worse, so it will get worse for the people living rough. We have been making charitable organisations aware and asking for volunteers.

“Our post was shared 1,600 times. We have had lots of volunteers who wanted to help and some of them have brought food and clothes which we will be taking to homeless shelters.

“I think it is a brilliant idea to do this. The community really needs help in Trowbridge and we want to be part of that help as much as we can.”

“It is all about the intention. Our intention is to help and we are trying our best to help the community. We are doing our best and if that doesn’t work, what we have cooked we will try and take to the shelters, we have made four home made soups and sandwiches which we can distribute.”

Volunteers who couldn’t get into work because of the weather, decided to spend their time off doing a good deed.

Natalie Mounty, said: “I want to help that is the basics of it. I found out about this on Facebook, that is the power of Facebook.”

Natalia Parzhanova, added: “You get a bit of satisfaction and you can do your bit. If someone is doing something you can lend a hand.”

Mr Berkane was kept especially busy during Storm Emma as he coordinated with Trowbridge Churches about doing the same thing.

“We had four rough sleepers come to the mosque but then we sent out food to those sleeping under the bridge near Tesco too,” he said.

“Then on Sunday St John’s Church in Devizes called and I delivered soup to them in my van for homeless people to have that day and the next day too.

“When you get such a wonderful reaction, it brings the best out in people, who genuinely want to help others who were struggling during this time.

“This can help bring the community together where we can discuss things like working together as a team.”