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Chronicle Live
Chronicle Live
National
Owen Younger

Meet the Heaton takeaway owner who has been donating pizzas to schools and hospitals since 2010

The owner of a takeaway in Heaton has been donating pizzas to schools and hospitals since 2010, and he believes everyone can help people in any way they can.

Ilhan Ozcan of Pizzaholic takeaway on Chillingham Road, was particularly charitable during the pandemic, donating dozens of pizzas to hospitals in the North East.

In the last week Ilhan delivered four 18-inch pizzas to the RVI Accident and Emergency department.

Read more: I visited the semi-rural Northumberland town of Prudhoe which is just minutes from Newcastle city centre

Ilhan said: "I feel like, we go to hospital staff when we are ill and it is up to them to make us feel better, so I do it to return this favour and say thank you to them for all of the work that they do for us.

"I've been able to give back to people as much as possible over the last 10 years, as well as being able to do it even more during the pandemic, and seeing other takeaways and restaurants following my example is a great feeling.

Ilhan Ozcan owner of Pizzaholic takeaway on Chillingham road, Heaton (Chronicle Live)

"Everyone has a different capacity of how much they can help people, but I think it is important that people try to do whatever they can in order to support the community", he said.

Ilhan is part of the Turkish community in Newcastle, and he helped to raise over £100,000 in donations for the earthquake appeal back in February.

Ilhan also helped out during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said: "As difficult of a time as the pandemic was, we were able to give out food at an even higher rate than usual, with the business itself being unable to be open as usual.

"This allowed us to focus on other things and look at the positives of the situation, and we have continued to do that, so maybe you will be surprised with a pizza donating one day too."

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