Peterborough Foodbank to benefit from Co-op's summer campaign for children

Central England Co-op is kicking off its campaign to tackle holiday hunger - and is asking you to help with donations to foodbanks, including Peterborough's.

Called Summer Support for Kids, the aim is collect vital food items for those impacted by holiday hunger and, for the first time, the Co-op is urging people to donate items such as arts, crafts and school supplies to help kids with their school work and keep them occupied during the summer months.

It will also be donating £100,000 to its food redistribution partner FareShare Midlands who will be providing food and resources to children over the summer months, plus they will also be campaigning to see a change in Government policy to provide better support for those in need.

On average, FareShare Midlands says it costs around £1.80 to create a healthy and nutritious meal for a child. This would mean the six-figure donation could provide more than 50,000 meals during the coming months.

In Cambridgeshire, a total of 72,085 children currently live in poverty.

Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-operative chief executive, said: “We have now been working with our foodbank partners to try and combat holiday hunger for many years, yet we continue to see demand for foodbank support spike as what they now offer has sadly become a permanent solution rather than an emergency response.

“We are calling on the Government to urgently address this problem and put an end to holiday hunger. Free school meals and vouchers are great but not enough.

“We now need more change from the Government before it is too late to support the near 900,000 young people in our area who fall outside the current support system.

“However, in the meantime, communities at the heart of our mission are continuing to suffer and this is why we are urgently launching our Summer Support for Kids appeal.

“We are asking people to donate food and, for the first time, items such as arts, crafts and stationery to keep kids entertained this summer and help them get ready to return to school.”

The appeal will run from now until September and all customers have to do is drop items off in special collection points in-store.