Hammersmith-based action group feeds kids in the holidays.
City Harvest free food recipient, LMP Action CIC, combats holiday hunger and the other disproportionate effects of the cost-of-living crisis on low-income families with kids.
Mona Vadher, Director at LMP Action CIC on the cost-of-living crisis
“Families at the moment, particularly those from a low socio-economicbackground, or those that are in receipt of free school meals, for example, we have seen many of them really struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, but also the aftermath of the pandemic.
To prepare and help these families, one of the things that we’re doingwithin the borough, in particular, is offering ‘holiday hampers’. We’re ensuring that families have the ability to cook 2 meals, we’ll provide all the ingredients for them. We’re also offering cost-of-living crisis leaflets:
information and resources to help families be that little bit better with money and make things stretch a little bit further. Particularly over the winter months, when some families have to really battle with this whole eating or heating dilemma.
We see it quite a lot and some of the things we’re doing particularlywith H&F are: getting affiliations with supermarkets to ensure that surplus food isn’t going to waste, engaging with local food banks, engaging with local providers like City Harvest, ensuring that any of their surplus food doesn’t go to waste.
Then, the other thing is really making sure that for those families who often don’t have the luxury of childcare, we’re ensuring that our holiday camps, but also those of our partners and providers across the borough, do offer that safe space so they can then continue to work, knowing that their children are in a safe environment and safe space.”
About LMP Group
We are a national organisation but we also offer local provision for families and young children within Hammersmith and Fulham borough.
For young people within Hammersmith & Fulham borough weoffer a variety of different things, including holiday camps which involve enrichment activities, ranging from sports to cookery classes, to arts and crafts to challenge activities. And we even try and bring employers, and encourage employer encounters in these camps, so we can try and raise awareness, inspire young people, and provide them with role models.
The whole point of these camps is to provide families withthe knowledge that their children are in a safe environment, but one where they can form friendships for life. Children can join our camps from the age of 8 up until the age of 16 and they must either be living in the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham or attend a school withing the borough. We work very closely withthe council, and other local providers as well, through our holiday activities and food programme whereby we offer activities across the major holidays, that’s Easter, Christmas, and the summer.
We work collectively through this coalition to provide arange of different camps and interventions for young people, ranging from those that are able, to those that are not so able, those who have SEN needs, or those that are vulnerable as well. Collectively, we can reach a huge amount of people within the community, and ensure that every young person goes away with a hot or cold nutritious meal.
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