Two Holbeach businesses have teamed up with a community group and local schools to feed children during the summer holidays.
Those involved want to remove the stigma of going to food banks by giving out tokens to children who are entitled to free school meals.
It’s the idea of Holbeach Community Larder’s Wanda Adams-Stevens in collaboration with Darci’s Sandwich Bar and Central Fish and Chips.
“Each school in our area has been asked to identify pupils who will benefit from the scheme and to issue the family with tokens that can be exchanged for either a free lunch or tea for three days a week over a six week period,” explains the chair of trustees of Holbeach Community Larder, Jane Francis. “Some people don’t want to come to a food bank because of the stigma involved.
“We don’t want young people to go without a meal through the school holidays because of that.
“We have a very close relationship with the schools and know a lot of pupils are getting free meals because families are struggling.
“With this scheme we won’t even know who the tokens are going to as they will be handed out by the school which knows who needs them most.”
The tokens, funded by the Larder, can be used for either a sandwich, crisps and a drink from Darci’s or a fish, fishcake or sausage with chips from Central.
Holbeach Community Larder was founded in 2013 and Jane says it has not been busier, currently serving ‘60 to 70’ people a week via around 30 volunteers.
“We will continue to do our food banks and parcels,” she added. “We’re incredibly lucky to have the donors and volunteers we have.”
The group is also continuing with its cafe open on Fridays at 12pm. There you can pay what you can afford for a meal cooked by Larder volunteers.
