Over 30,000 schoolchildren in Leeds are going hungry in the school holidays as families are struggling to meet the costs of feeding their children in the holidays. Our projects can help by running activities during the school holidays to enable vulnerable children to have access to food, fun activities, learning and support for their families.
- 1/3 of parents have skipped a meal so their kids could eat during the school holidays
- 78% of parents on low household income believe a community holiday club would ease parent stress
Impact
Over the course of the summer 2018 we had approx. 299 young people ranging from 0 – 17 years of age, we had 132 families and a total of 227 free meals were served on our Go Wild Projects.
In order to offer a varied and healthy lunch that caters for all dietary requirements we teamed up with Fare Share Yorkshire who agreed to deliver extra food to us for the duration of the project. This meant we were able to maximise the value of the funding we had for food by using it to purchase food that was suitable for all requirements especially special diets such as free from, vegetarian and vegan. The additional food we received ensured that we always had lots of choice for attendees while additional value to the project by reducing food waste from Supermarkets too.
‘This has been an amazing summer, so many families around here are struggling and this project has managed to help them without making them feel awkward or inadequate. This ticked lots of boxes for us as a group, it was accessible to all families, helped reduce food waste and gave practical advice and help to families struggling, all while doing a bear hunt, pond dipping or making slime!
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Lynne Caufield – Chair of Wykebeck Valley Friends Association
From the Feedback Form’s 2019
Q: Did you learn anything new?
A: “Yes – help what to do when lost”
-Emma