Anastasia McNeil bought her dad a figurine designed to look just like him for Father’s Day.

The Funko Pop! effigy now stands atop well-stocked liquor shelves, facing the Forum Pub’s erratically-decorated wall. The miniature version of Kirk McNeil faces an anti-prohibition sign and a series of out-of-state license plates. A colorful painting of a young Bill Murray hangs somewhere in the mix, too.

The real Kirk McNeil wore a “Lebowski 2024” t-shirt (a shout to the Coen brothers’s 1998 film “The Big Lebowski”) and leaned against the corner of his well-polished bar. Despite its irreverent, retro-themed decor that made the Foum Pub feel like it had been there for years, it only opened in March. McNeil and his employees — his bartenders, cooks and servers — renovated the place themselves after closing down the Area 23 pub last year.

“This is our home, this is our clubhouse,” McNeil said. “We want people to come in and enjoy it as we do.”

Now that McNeil has a solid customer base built out of regulars new and old, he wanted to do something a little different, just like he’s done with his other ventures. He decided to launch a charitable “Pay it Forward” program that allows guests to purchase meal vouchers so other customers can get a free meal. A $20 donation prompts McNeil or his staff to hang a color-coded voucher (Anastasia’s touch) on a board by the door that can be handed in for a filling lunch or dinner.

“Any time you end something and start something new, you’ve got that opportunity to reinvent and do a better job,” McNeil says.

The program offers three options: Chicken tenders, burgers and chicken-caesar wraps, the most popular and portable items on his menu. Meal vouchers include drinks and sides, too. “I really don’t want to quibble with anybody or make them feel like they’re getting the budget version,” McNeil says. “You should get the full meal.”

Not quibbling also means not questioning the validity of a person’s need. This program is not just for community members in poverty — it is for anybody who needs a meal and might not have enough money in their pocket to pay for one.

“I think we’ve all been under certain circumstances before where there was a little bit of week left at the end of the paycheck,” McNeil says.

Donations are necessary, though, for vouchers to remain available. This is a two-pronged effort, reliant on the generosity of the Concord community as well as the kindness and cooking skills of the Forum Pub’s staff. As a new restaurant, the Forum Pub doesn’t have the financial power to be this generous on its own coin.

A Pay it Forward-funded meal gets the same attention as any other plate in the Forum Pub, which offer a heaping serving of care. Head chef Caleb Keller loves simple bar food and believes in doing it right. He applied his fine dining background to his kitchen at the Forum Pub, where nearly everything is house-made. He mixes the Thousand Island dressing that tops the burgers and cuts and blanches every French fry. Chicken tenders are made fresh, never frozen.

“They’re still just chicken tenders,” he said, “I’m just doing them right.”

For Keller, all the details matter. So do people, from all walks of life. Keller spent seven years working at the New Hope Ministry homeless shelter that used to exist in Concord. Lending a helping hand is nothing unusual.

Unlike Keller, McNeil did not grow up in New Hampshire — he’s from Louisville, Ky. — but he feels that the Concord community has embraced his restaurants all the same. It was actually his regulars who first suggested something like a Pay it Forward program back when he owned Area 23. His frequent guests are also the ones who hang the artwork and signs on his walls, eager to claim a piece of a bar that feels like it could be home.

On an early Friday afternoon, a man walked into the pub and asked McNeil if he could hang his poster in the pub. “Absolutely,” McNeil said without even checking its content.

Welcoming and friendly, the Pay it Forward program should fit well with the vibe in the Forum Pub. It’s not unusual, according to McNeil, for patrons to sit at the bar for four hours, bracketing conversation with lunch and dinner. It’s important to him that anyone can join in that conversation, or try one of Keller’s burgers, whether they can afford it or not.