Offering holiday food provision support during the summer
As we settle into the new school term, we wanted to take a moment to share what our teams got up to over the summer period - it sure has been busy!
At City Catering, we advocate for access to accessible food for all and so, as the pandemic hit, we knew that those already at risk of food poverty were likely to become more at need of support. Through our work with the Holiday Provision Steering Group - for which we have been facilitating regular calls with since March - we knew that there would be a number of challenges to holiday provision this summer.
Lunch Crowd and Cooking at Home support
It wasn't until late in the summer term that it looked like some clubs would be able to navigate a way to running - whilst still needing to find their way through the constantly changing guidance. For the clubs that we support through the Lunch Crowd project however, face to face sessions weren't possible. Regardless, this hasn't stopped our partners, TLG Make Lunch and Swaythling Primary School supporting an ever increasing number of families since March. Sadly, it meant that we couldn't open the kitchens and cook as usual, so we sought to offer an enhanced provision to our usual grocery bag offer for those who attend our Lunch Crowd clubs. This is what led to the creation and launch of Cooking at Home with City Catering.
Over the past year or so, we have provided take home recipe-led grocery bags to attendees of Lunch Crowd clubs. They've been really positively received! This summer, we provided recipe-led groceries, but also produced cook-along videos, online guidance, and a dedicated Facebook group - open to everyone and anyone wanting to expand their cooking skills! In total this summer, we supported 57 families through our two Lunch Crowd clubs, supplying groceries and, in all, providing 2,736 meals! It really was a huge team effort to put together in a short space of time - from our Menu Development Assistant, Laura, creating and testing recipes, to our wonderful team of volunteers, Fer and Sadie, for editing videos, and our Care Meals team, Martin and Simon, for finding the time to coordinate it all - and so many more people involved along the way! Thank you to everyone who got involved this summer.
“The ingredients provided were everyday staples, but I wouldn’t have had an idea of how to use them to create a meal. The food boxes and recipe cards were fantastic, very clear and easy to make - also healthy. My family and I very much appreciate your help and support through these tough times and we ate well balanced and healthy meals thanks to you”
Thank you to our funders & supporters
Crucially, we couldn't have supported the families without our donors - Lunch Crowd and Cooking at Home projects are exclusively funded by donations. Thank you to: Asda's Healthy Holiday Grant, Bidfood, Harvest (whose customers have also donated hundreds!), Paris Smith, and all our individual donors to our summer appeal, helping to raise £5000 to fund this summers groceries. You are all simply wonderful!
A huge thank you also to Phil and Lisa at Sainsbury’s Lordshill who helped us with some of the grocery shopping - their help was simply priceless and really helped the summer go smoothly!
A collaboration with Saints Foundation
Saints Foundation serving families with hot meals, prepared and cooked by City Catering Southampton teams. Credit: Saints Foundation.
We were also delighted this summer to be granted funds by Saints Foundation this summer to support their summer holiday provision - a new scheme, aimed at those most at need this summer. Hosted at two secondary school sites in the city, we cooked and served free School Food Plan and Food for Life compliant hot dinners to families attending the clubs, together with packed lunches for their afternoon sessions. Thank you to Fairisle Jr School for allowing us to utilise the kitchen over the summer months!
A total of 900 meals were served, ensuring that families were able to access balanced meals, whilst benefiting from coached sports activities and much appreciated family time. We visited on the last session and families gave our brilliant kitchen team - Sharon, Nicky and Jade - some wonderful feedback, and all loved the food!
We look forward to working more with Saints Foundation in the future - a brilliant outcome from our work with the Holiday Provision Steering Group. Well done to all involved!
Looking ahead
We are committed to continuing to grow our support to families through our Lunch Crowd and Cooking at Home projects. We rely exclusively on fundraising to enable this to happen. We are now planning ahead for October and beyond. Can you help? Please consider making a donation to our Lunch Crowd appeal today to help us do more for those at risk of food poverty or explore other ways to support our charity.