Charity gears up to deliver ingredients for children who rely on free school meals
Pink Orange delivering ingredients to households in Ipswich. PHOTO: Access Community Trust - Credit: Archant
A charity is preparing to deliver more free ingredients to children on free school meals across Suffolk and Great Yarmouth this Christmas.
Ingredients waiting to be delivered to low income households across Suffolk. PHOTO: Access Community Trust - Credit: Archant
Access Community Trust, a Lowestoft based charity, established The Pink Orange in the summer after receiving funding from Suffolk Community Funding.
Volunteers at The Pink Orange distribute free ingredient kits during the school holidays to households that receive free school meals during term time.
Weekly ingredients are delivered to households which ensures families can cook two freshly prepared meals from the free ingredients.
According to data from Suffolk Observatory, areas in Lowestoft such as Normanston and Harbour have some of the highest income deprivation affecting young people in the UK.
Delivering kits in Stowmarket, Suffolk. PHOTO: Access Community Trust - Credit: Archant
Head of Communications for Access Community Trust, Simon Baldry, 39, heads up the service and said: “We are different to the usual foodbanks in the sense that we specifically target young children who are eligible to free school meals.
You may also want to watch:
“We are trying to reverse the stigma around families being forced to access foodbanks.”
During the summer, Access supported 5,206 households across Suffolk, providing 65 tonnes of ingredients which equalled 117,000 meals being prepared across the county.
Most Read
- 1 'Anti-social rider' has quadbike seized in the snow
- 2 Roundabout memorial bid for the 'Ole Chicken Man of Bungay'
- 3 Car park's £500 price hike was 'callous', town council says
- 4 Norfolk's first mass Covid vaccination centre to open in food court
- 5 Butchers' could be converted into cafe under new plans
- 6 'Disappointment' as thieves raid £16,000 of kit from town's sports club
- 7 Name unveiled for new Bungay SEND school
- 8 Voyeur watched people after setting up secret cameras in bathroom
- 9 'Beccles Mafia' reported to police for harassing elderly shoppers
- 10 Tributes to man, 31, who died on Christmas Day
Estimates by the charity indicate that out of the 152,270 0 to 17 year olds in Suffolk, 12,135 of these children that receive free school meals in term time are registered as relying on a local foodbank.
Deliveries take place across Suffolk, with plans to move into Great Yarmouth this Christmas. PHOTO: Access Community Trust - Credit: Archant
With demand for ingredients being high during the summer, Mr Baldry confirmed plans that the charity will be delivering to families across Great Yarmouth this Christmas.
He said: “We are launching our Christmas campaign now and expect demand to be even higher going into the Christmas holidays.”
The demand for fresh ingredients for those on free school meals across Waveney and Great Yarmouth is expected to increase over the October half term and Christmas holidays in part due Peter Aldous and Brandon Lewis voting against the extension of free school meals.
Mr Baldry said: “I’m dissapointed our local MPs voted against the extension of free school meals into the Christmas holidays.
“It pushed us to launch this service and it is now more important than ever.
“We will deliver Christmas to the thousands of households who are in need of a fresh meal across Suffolk and Great Yarmouth.”
