LOCAL Frome charity Fair Frome which runs the food bank and other projects in the town to support vulnerable families and individuals has joined the call by Premier League footballer Marcus Rashford to extend the scheme to deliver free school meal vouchers to the summer holidays.
In his appeal to the government and all MPs, Marcus outlined his own story as a child, the difference free school meals made to his family and why he is calling for this change:
“This is not about politics; this is about humanity. Looking at ourselves in the mirror and feeling like we did everything we could to protect those who can’t, for whatever reason or circumstance, protect themselves. Political affiliations aside, can we not all agree that no child should be going to bed hungry”
Fair Frome Chair Bob Ashford said:
“We at Fair Frome have become more than ever aware during this pandemic of the deprivations and difficulties many low-income families are facing in their day to day lives. Locked down, unemployed or furloughed, often with a parent or child with additional physical or mental health needs food has never been so important to those families. This is why we have seen our food bank numbers soar. We have also provided additional support to families on free school meals through additional parcels and by providing every child on income related free school meals a supermarket gift card and vouchers for a local fruit and veg shop. It’s also why we started our Holiday hunger project to feed children during school holidays. This isn’t enough though. We know, as do our local schools who are working hard to support these families that the extension of the Government free school meals voucher scheme to the Easter holidays made such a difference. This is why we are asking it to be extended to the summer holidays.”
