Latest News

Share Your Lunch this summer

Published: 13/06/2018

Flintshire County Council, in partnership with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Clwyd Alyn Housing Association and Travis Perkins, is taking a stand on food poverty. It is a shocking statement to make, but there are families in Flintshire who are in food poverty. Food poverty is the inability to afford, or to have access to, food to make up a healthy diet. Children are going hungry because their parents cannot afford to buy food. To help combat this unacceptable situation, Flintshire County Council and its partners have joined forces with “Can Cook” to launch an ambitious programme “Share Your Lunch” which will provide 20,000 free meals – 800 meals a day – over the six week summer holiday period to play schemes throughout Flintshire. This is huge undertaking and a first for the region. Share Your Lunch has already provided over 35,000 fresh, free meals for families and individuals in food poverty in the Liverpool area. Can Cook is a social enterprise based in Liverpool which was set up in 2007 as a food organisation working with people living in South Liverpool who didn’t have basic cookery skills. They also provide a fresh food catering service for care and education settings across Merseyside – and soon to be in Flintshire. They specialise in catering for children and older people, and primarily provide services specific to these age groups. Flintshire County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Bernie Attridge, said: “Share Your Lunch is an ambitious project which will make a real difference to hundreds of people in our community. Children should not have to go hungry in this day and age. However, an initiative of this magnitude is expensive to fund and, although we have about three quarters of the funding in place to ensure we can supply the maximum number of meals, we still need support from more local businesses willing to help out.” Ed Hughes, Resident Services manager for Clwyd Alyn Housing Association said: “Clwyd Alyn are really pleased to support this great partnership initiative. As a social landlord we are aware of the challenges many families face in relation to this problem and we want to play our part in helping to eradicate food poverty within Flintshire.” Executive Director of Public Health, Teresa Owen, said: “Good nutrition is vital to every child’s wellbeing. We applaud the ‘Share Your Lunch’ project for aiming to improve access to a healthy diet for those in food poverty in Flintshire.” If your business would like to get involved and donate to this cause, please contact Leigh Sheridan, Marketing and Development Officer, Leigh@cancook.co.uk or 0151 728 3109.