Southampton’s response to Marcus Rashford’s Free School Meals campaign

Did you know?

“37% of teachers spot signs of malnourishment when children return home from the school holidays” National Union of Teachers Survey on Holiday Hunger (2017)

“1 in 3 children from low income families have skipped a meal so that their children can eat during the school holidays” – Kellogs, Isolation and Hunger: The reality of the school holidays for struggling families (2015)

“1 in 5 children in the UK face food insecurity, one of the highest rates in Europe” – Unicef, Building the future – Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich countries (2017)

“3 million children are at risk of hunger in the school holidays” – Feeding Britain, “Ending hunger in the school holidays”

Stats taken from Transforming lives for good

Marcus Rashford the England and Manchester United striker has been campaigning to end child food poverty. On Wednesday night he “vented his “despair” as Labour’s plea for free school meals to be extended over the holidays to stop children going hungry fell on deaf ears in government. The Guardian

I think what Marcus Rashford is doing is absolutely amazing. I grew up in a single parent family in a time when there was much less financial support from the government, we had very little money and received free school meals. So we sat down as a family and decided we wanted to do something. We’re going to raise money during Half Term by making candy floss spider webs and putting all the proceeds to charity. Picture below…

Cotton candy spider web take-home treats for Halloween | Halloween hacks, Halloween party kids, Birthday halloween party

We started looking for a charity to donate the money to, so I put a simple post on facebook this morning. I was completely overwhelmed with the response. Along with my good friend Katy Kennedy we have discovered that there are so many charities, churches, restaurants and individuals in our city that are giving out free school meals this half term. So I wanted to try and bring them all together in one post. Before you read the list below.

Would you consider raising money over half term to donate money to charities that are helping child food poverty long term?

Would you choose one of these restaurants to have your next takeaway?

Would you consider raising money over half term and donate money to charities that are helping child food poverty long term? Would you choose one of these restaurants to have your next takeaway?
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For those that live in Southampton, here is a list of restaurants, cafes, churches and charities that are helping fight child food poverty this week.