OVER 20,000 free school meals are expected to be handed out over holidays this year to tackle poverty and hunger within the community.

East Ayrshire Council are celebrating the growth of their Activity Holiday Programme which helps feed children and their families on school breaks.

The programme has grown year on year, with 5000 lunches being provided to children by the Council’s Catering Service during the first summer programme to 14,000 free lunches during 2018.

This year the number of free lunches distributed is expected to rise to 20,000 and with the recent Easter activity programme the most well attended yet seeing 5055 lunches distributed, this could prove to be a conservative estimate.

The programme began two years ago and runs during the school holidays providing a free, healthy packed lunch to every child who attends a fun activity delivered by Vibrant Communities and partners including Centrestage, Bar nardo ’s and Yipworld.

Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of the Council said: “ The holiday activity programme has been increased this year to include the Easter holidays, six weeks of the summer holidays and the October week. Our Catering Services are planning to provide 20,000 free meals this year during the school holidays but will be ready to provide further meals if required. The focus for young people will be the fun activities but each child participating will receive a healthy packed lunch. This is the most inclusive and positive way to engage with families over the holidays.”

The success of the activity programme cannot be underestimated however; the Council recognises that there is more to building sustainable and dignified access to food in our communities. East Ayrshire Council, with partners including Fareshare, Centrestage and the CVO, are determined to work together to tackle food poverty in a dignified way and ensure that no child in East Ayrshire goes to bed hungry.

Councillor Reid added: “During the Easter holidays we also made a connection with Centrestage’s food project; children, young people or their parents could take a prepared meal home on a take what you need, pay what you can basis. Thanks to Scottish Government funding, 6,114 portions of food were delivered to activities across East Ayrshire and 329 adults and 403 children benefitted from these healthy, nutritional meals at home.

“We are determined to further expand this joined up work and it has become very clear that we all have a common goal. We have created a Food in Communities working group to ensure that best practice is shared and that we find new ways to tackle food poverty, that surplus food is utilised and cooking skills are improved.

An interactive map has been created that plots where and when our residents can access food suppor t helping to improve access and removing stigma for those in need.”

There are a number of initiatives that are being developed by the Food in Communities group including a ‘community pantry’ in local communities that would be run by community volunteers and the development of cooking classes run by various partners.

The Catering team has been running the very successful ‘ I lunch ’ programme that engages with local families teaching them how to prepare and cook nutritious meals. This work complements Centrestage’s Eat and Train programme that operates throughout East Ayrshire and provides nutritional advice and cooking skills to parents and children in our schools.

Logan Primary School is at the forefront of dignified food pr ov ision within Ea st Ayrshire operating a successful pantry system, providing cooking classes to children and their parents through Centrestage and keeping chickens and growing fruit and veg within the school grounds.

Councillor Fiona Campbell, Cabinet Member for Skills and Learning said: “Logan Primary is a very good example of dignified food support.

Head teacher Denise MacColl has built strong relationships between the school, local groups including Centrestage and the community.

“Children and their parents are taught how to cook, how to grow fruit and vegetables and Denise has even introduced chickens that provide free range eggs for the school and the community. A pantry also runs weekly where people can access surplus food, taking what they need and paying what they can, helping to tackle food poverty and ensuring that our young people and their families are supported.

“Access to nutritious food is key to ending child poverty and will ensure young people can reach their full potential.”