Paula Elson, Ros Whitelock & Kerry-Lynne Pyke.
Bridgend Against Holiday Hunger's Committee Members.
Last year, I heard a talk by Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris who has successfully set up schemes to feed children in the school holidays when their families may be struggling to cover the £30-£40 per week it costs to feed one child outside of term time.
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It got me thinking - what about Bridgend?
My research so far suggests we don’t have any similar schemes in the county and the growth of local food banks suggests we need them.
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So what have I done so far? I’ve met with Bridgend Foodbank to talk about the idea and they may be able to help source food. I’ve met with local politicians to discuss the idea too.
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I went to a Bevan Foundation event in Merthyr on holiday hunger and heard about some of the excellent work happening in other parts of Wales and the UK, which we can learn so much from.
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But I can’t get this scheme up and running alone and that’s where your help comes in.
Whether you can donate food or storage space, spare an hour or two, have links to schools or local businesses who may want to help or have any expertise to share it will all help. Or perhaps you have links to community centres or have a cracking idea of where to start or people I should be speaking to.
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Whatever help you can give would be brilliant, because I believe no child should go hungry in the school holidays and we need to start somewhere.
Thank you.
Kerry-Lynne