Brakes charity acts to help hungry children this Christmas

Meals & More, the charity started by Brakes, has called on the Government to go even further to help hungry children this Christmas.

While welcoming the Government’s announcement of a support package to help children and families over the winter period, as well as the extension of the Holiday Activity & Food Programme and Healthy Start Voucher improvement, the charity is concerned that it is not sufficient to cover enough children that live with poverty and isolation. It is therefore urging the Government to extend the support to all families on Universal Credit.

At the same time, Meals & More has launched its fifth annual Christmas campaign to help bring relief to some of the millions of families who face an uncertain Christmas.

Peter McGrath, operations director at Meals & More, said: “Meals & More now supports 220 kids’ holiday clubs across the UK, providing meals and a safe and fun place for children and their parents. We’ve provided more than 440,000 meals over the past five years to more than 10,000 children each year.

“We have been asked by the clubs we support if there is additional funding available as the ramifications of the pandemic begin to be felt across the country, so to this end we are launching a Christmas campaign and people can donate through the Virgin Money page.”

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1015261

Meals & More is calling on the entire food industry to unite in support of the effort to put an end to holiday hunger. While the long-term situation remains unclear, the charity has urged companies from food manufacturers to restaurants who want to help but don’t know how, to support Meals & More’s mission, which is already feeding thousands of children over the holiday period.

The past year has seen holiday hunger become one of the most talked about aspects of child food poverty, helped by the launch of the Child Food Poverty Task Force, formed by footballer Marcus Rashford. Brakes joined the Task Force in October, adding its voice to others in the industry in calling for the endorsement of three policy recommendations from the Government’s National Food Strategy – a unifying step to identifying a long-term solution to child food poverty in the UK.