laporcupina:

For 17
years, Nick Makris never uttered a word in public. The autistic teenager
from Levenshulme in Manchester has been a selective mute since birth,
unable to speak due to severe social anxiety.

In September he began taking part in a cooking class at the Grange
Special School, which has 137 pupils on the autistic spectrum. The class
was established a year ago by a teacher, Serene Phillips, with food
supplied entirely by the food waste charity FareShare, which the Telegraph is backing in its Christmas appeal.

Every
Wednesday, Nick and his class spend the morning preparing a lunch and
then take it to a nearby day centre where they serve up to 30 elderly
people (many of whom have their own health issues including dementia).  

In recent months, because of the social bonds formed over the
lunches, Nick has finally started to speak. With a broad smile on his
face he slowly tells me what he enjoys most about the cooking classes:
“making old people happy”.

Part charity solicitation, but an entirely heartwarming and uplifting story.

Inside the cafe of hope, where autistic young adults make lunch for those who would be lonely this Christmas