Whilst the Government has consistently been made to rethink decisions on providing free school meals for children, food shelters have been working hard for those in need.
Sheffield charity Food Works offers meals for children for free during the lockdown. They only ask that the child is present when visiting the hubs for meal collection.
Food Works announced the opening of two more partner hubs in Darnall and Broomhall in a Facebook post on February 21. They now have 11 food hubs across Sheffield.
On their Facebook page, Food Works wrote: “We are a social enterprise building fair and sustainable food.
“We do this in our local Food Hubs, where we work on: producing locally and responsibly, wasting less, making better use of food, and ensuring everyone can access food.”
Food Works volunteers have worked tirelessly over the pandemic, serving 1,000 meals a week.
The charity offers a range of meals suitable for vegetarians, vegans, and gluten-free diets. For general collections, they ask for a minimum contribution of only £1 per meal.
The dedication of organisations like Food Works is in spite of the recent Government decision that children will only receive free school meals for one of the two weeks in the Easter holidays.
Sheffield MPs such as MP Louise Haigh have written to the Secretary of State Gavin Williamson, calling for a U-turn to ensure families have enough food.
MP Louise Haigh and other Sheffield Labour MPs wrote to Secretary of State Gavin Williamson
From MP Louise Haigh on Twitter: @LouHaigh
In the open letter, MP Haigh wrote: “The Government’s decision to feed hungry children for one week of the holidays but not the other is as bizarre as it is cruel.
“As Labour MPs, we understand and share the public’s strongly-held belief that no child should go hungry, and, because of that strength of feeling, we are confident that the Government will again be forced to back down and U-turn.”
Food Works encourages members of the public to get involved with supporting their organisation.
You can donate to their website or subscribe to regularly collect meals from them. For businesses, you can become a Partner Hub to help provide meals.
For more information, please visit the Food Works website: