Work from Leeds Council, Asda and DPD volunteers underway to provide free school meals over Christmas for eligible children

Volunteers from Leeds Council, Asda and DPD have begun working to ensure children who are eligible for free school meals get them over Christmas.
Leeds Council, Asda and DPD volunteers work to provide meals for children over Christmas (photo: Jonathan Pryor)Leeds Council, Asda and DPD volunteers work to provide meals for children over Christmas (photo: Jonathan Pryor)
Leeds Council, Asda and DPD volunteers work to provide meals for children over Christmas (photo: Jonathan Pryor)

On December 1, Leeds City Council announced that they had committed to providing free school meals for eligible children across the city over the Christmas break and February half-term.

The meals are being provided by money from the Covid Winter Grant Fund which was announced by the Government on November 9 to enable local authorities to better support vulnerable children, families and individuals.

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Leeds City Council was allocated £2.84 million and they announced that £1.6 million of that was going to be set aside to provide free school meals to over 34,000 children estimated to live in poverty across the city.

Catering Leeds, part of Leeds City Council, have now begun work with Asda to pack thousands of food hampers which will then be delivered directly to the homes of children by DPD.

All children who receive free school meals during term time are eligible, but schools will be able to ask for additional money to support families who are not eligible for free school meals but who they assess to be living in poverty.

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s executive member for learning, skills and employment said: “We know that this year remains incredibly difficult for many families in Leeds and we are committed to supporting our most vulnerable residents as we battle through this uncertain winter period.

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"No family should have to worry about providing food for their children during school holidays and we hope that by providing free meals we will be easing the pressure on some of our most vulnerable families at the end of what has been a tough year for us all.”

(photo: Jonathan Pryor)(photo: Jonathan Pryor)
(photo: Jonathan Pryor)

Local authorities were able to choose how they spent the money as long as it supports those most in need with the cost of food, energy (heating, cooking and lighting), water bills and other essentials.

The funds must be spent between December 2020 and March 2021.

Kloe Tegg, Asda’s Fight Hunger Manager said: “Supporting the most vulnerable in our communities is something that’s really important to Asda and delivering food to those in need is more important than ever, after what has been a difficult year for so many families.

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"As part of our Fight Hunger Create Change programme, we’ve committed to providing 1 million meals to families across the UK over the festive period, but we wanted to go further which is why we are proudly supporting Leeds City Council to deliver free meals to children throughout the festive holidays and beyond.

"I’m incredibly proud of how teams all across Asda have come together to be able to support and volunteer for this fantastic initiative which will deliver thousands of meals across the city, I know that these parcels will make such a difference to so many families.”

Leeds Labour Councillor for Headingley and Hyde Park, Jonathan Pryor went to see the volunteers in action on Saturday.

He tweeted: "Been out to see the amazing work being done to make sure that all free school meals kids get food over Christmas!

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"Each is for one child. Inspirational to see, so pleased we could do this, and great to work with both Asda and DPD!"

In addition to the food hampers, the Healthy Holidays programme, run by Leeds Community Foundation in partnership with Leeds City Council and other organisations, will also continue to operate through school holidays.

This programme provides children and families with access to meals and activities during the holidays.

Since April, the programme has provided just under 130,000 portions of food to children and their families, alongside online activities, face-to-face activities, and activity packs delivered to their homes.

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