Summar Lunch Club, North

The summer lunch club project was run in partnership with Leatherhead Church, Trinity Children’s Centre and Families Matter Programme ( of ).

The scheme was set up in response to the group noticing parents’ anxieties towards the summer holidays and the focus around money and lack of it. Many families had commented how worried they were about being able to provide a ‘proper meal’ for their children. Many of the families the group work with rely on free school meals, so 6 weeks of no school input was making many feel rather afraid.

The area of North Leatherhead is made up mainly of social housing. Many of the families supported are on a very low income or receive state benefits and are in social housing, which is quite often cramped and standards of living are usually inadequate. The summer lunch club is important to run each year, so families feel they can get some respite from the worry of how to feed their children and themselves once a week throughout the holidays. They can also rely on the services involved to provide them with activities for the family and a listening ear, which is very important when everyone seems to be on holiday or many venues are closed.

In total, Families Matter has supported 25 families this summer, with over 8 of those families being unknown to us and going away with information of how we can offer support in the future.

The food provided was a range of simple foods including French Bread, cheeses, ham, sausages, fruit, vegetables, crisps, water to drink, and cakes were made on the final day by a very grateful family. The food was mainly brought from Tesco and Lidl and the costs were covered by a grant from the Growth Development Fund at the Diocese of Guildford. The club was held at the Children’s Centre in North Leatherhead.

Feedback has been very positive. Families said they were very grateful, loved that they too could join in a eat with the family as a whole. Many volunteers helped this year and it was great to see them playing with the children whilst we could offer support to the families who needed it

T: 01483 790300 E: [email protected] www.cofeguildford.org.uk

Ideally we would like to get Foodbank involved for the next time we run it and even have something similar running during the Christmas holidays. All activities worked and we look to continue to support this well needed scheme.

T: 01483 790300 E: [email protected] www.cofeguildford.org.uk Page | 2