Feeding Derbyshire Healthy Holidays Programme October Half-Term 2020 Report Introduction Feeding Derbyshire worked with 15 independent Healthy Holidays Clubs across all districts of Derbyshire. 14 have submitted their feedback to date. As in the Summer Holidays, we made a universal offer to the holiday clubs, providing food and take-home activities to children living within the areas they served. Club organisers ensured that vulnerable families and those on Free School Meals were made aware of and signed up to the programme. School Holiday Clubs supported All of the 15 Holiday Clubs opted to receive a Fareshare subscription. This October, the FareShare offer that Feeding Derbyshire subscribed to consisted of three days’ supply of food for each week that a child attended the holiday club. This included: 6 pieces of fruit for each child Breakfast products Lunch making ingredients Hot meal ingredients Locations served by the School Holiday Clubs Heanor, Langley Mill, Loscoe, Langley, Amber Valley Riddings, Amber Valley Hurst Farm, Matlock, Derbyshire Dales Kirk Hallam, Erewash Long Eaton, Sawley and Sandiacre, Erewash Rother Ward Chesterfield Staveley, Barrow Hill, Poolsbrook, Hollingwood, Mastin Moor, Duckmanton , Inkersall, Chesterfield. Grassmoor, NE Derbyshire Holmewood and Heath, NE Derbyshire Creswell, Bolsover Doe Lea, Bolsover Buxton, High Peak Swadlincote, South Derbyshire Volume of Food Supplied. FareShare have confirmed that 10.5 tonnes of food was distributed to the 15 School Holiday Clubs taking part in the Healthy Holidays programme over the October half-term. This is equivalent to 25,000 meals. 1 Total Number of Children/Families Supported Using the figures supplied by the 14 Holiday Clubs that have submitted their feedback, 2054 children and their families benefitted from the Healthy Holidays Programme. Reaching vulnerable children From the feedback received: 8 projects had a universal offer. 3 projects targeted their offer to specific children or families, and would take referrals from the local school. 3 projects had a universal offer but also ensured that specific children and families were invited to take part Estimated proportion of children who would have gone without food We asked the club organisers to estimate the proportion of children using their projects that would have gone without food if they had not received the support offered? Responses: 3 clubs estimated 100% 2 clubs estimated 80% 2 clubs estimated 70% 2 clubs estimated 60% 5 clubs estimated 50% Based on the feedback we received, we have calculated that 1241 of the families receiving food (60%) would have had a family member go without over the October half term (including adults who would have gone without to ensure that the children had enough) had the Holiday Hunger Programme not been available. The Food Provided to Families All of the School Holiday Clubs used FareShare food to provide food bags for the children to take home with them. One club also provided an eat-in lunch on four days, using food supplied from local takeaway businesses who supported that project. This enabled them to supply food for seven days of the half-term week. The food included in the parcels was suitable for breakfast, lunch and preparing an evening meal. Six of the projects also supplied snacks. Three projects are associated with the Feeding Derbyshire Batch Cook Scheme and were able to supply freshly cooked ready meals to take home too. The majority of clubs worked on a food collection basis only: the social-distancing restrictions in place due to COVID-19 continues to make it difficult for some venues to offer activities safely on site. The groups were supplied with activity suggestions/activity sheets that could be passed on to children and parents. All the clubs stated that the food provided by FareShare was either appropriate or very appropriate. Food donations from other sources 13 clubs topped up the food they received from FareShare from other sources. These included: Using the Feeding Derbyshire Grant and other funds to purchase items from local shops. 2 These included items such as bread, ham, cheese, bacon, sausages, toiletries and sanitary products as well as some treats for Halloween. Donations from Morrisons – pasta and soup Donations from Tesco Donations from Asda Donations of hot food from local take-away outlets Donations from the public direct to the clubs Donations from local bakery - bread Batch-Cook ready meals Number of days the projects operated 8 projects operated on one day of the week – but supplied a minimum of three days’ worth of food. 3 projects operated on two days of the week 1 project operated on three days of the week 1 project operated on four days of the week 1 project operated for seven days of the week Total Cost of Programme Cost of FareShare Subscriptions £4384.80 Value of Cash Grants supplied by Feeding Derbyshire £1815 Additional Costs covered by the Holiday Clubs £2425 Total Cost of the Half-Term Programme £8644.80 Average cost per child attending £4.21 Feedback from the families attending the clubs The feedback received from the families and club organisers was again very positive. The comments made highlighted the difference this provision is making to many families, and the continuing financial predicament many are finding themselves in. Please see the comments received below. The children loved the lunch bags. We put out the food basics for families to take what they wanted. Comments included "This makes such a difference to us" and "I just wanted to say thank you - we appreciate it more than you know". We have noticed that more families are struggling at the moment due to covid and reduced incomes. "We bagged up the food, making two bags of different items and one bag of fruit for each family that came. Sadly, some parents came late, after all the bags were handed out and all the food was gone. There is a need. When we opened, people were queuing to come through our gate - something seems to be not working. Our Facebook page reached 1382 and had 11 shares. “I would like to say that the work you do for the breakfast club is above and beyond. This valuable work is going on all up and down the country because there are so many needy people and you are filling in the gap for this area. I don’t have children to receive the bags. And sadly, I am far too old to come and help, but I am happy to give you the recognition you deserve. keep up it up it’s great” "Thanks so much, it really makes a difference" and "Chick peas again, what can I do with them?", "I'm on legacy benefits, we have been missed out on the extra help by the government, with heading into the winter, I needed to spend more on electric and gas and had no money for food. I'm so grateful to this Holiday Club, they have been amazing"" 3 "We had never used this service before, we were so surprised how kind the staff were. We received a lovely food hamper and the children all got wonderful Halloween goodies" "The children loved their treat bags and we received lovely quality food, thank you” Positive feedback - Some families (who I am aware are on free school meals) did not want to accept food as they thought there were other people more in need. Families and individuals were more open to discussing their financial hardship and worries compared to previous holiday activity weeks. The project allowed was a conversation starter to a series of chats with a single person resulting in a referral for a food bank. "thank you so much” Many said it helped them through rough times; families in need said they don't know what they would have done without it. Everyone was so incredibly grateful, we had several families telling us we were their life line. ‘Its amazing' 'Thank you so much' 'Love you' 'Thank you' “Love the filled jacket potatoes and sausage and chips is the best food ever!” “Very helpful”, “made jacket potato with beans was yummy” “enjoyed the chocolate eggs”. We had 43 children who parents had filled out the survey form for a bag who did not collect it. We were aware they could go to the local chip shop for a (free) takeaway, in hindsight I should have asked if they (the chip shop) would give the bag out for us. All others were delivered or collected. Families were very appreciative of the foods that they received and welcomed it at the end of the week when food was running low. What the Holiday Clubs felt went really well this October Half-Term Lots of fruit, good range of store cupboard basics, lots of volunteer help The money to buy what is needed / missed in our food order. All the parcels were collected and a number of new families came forward. We also gained some new volunteers. The amount of food and the delivery drivers were just great All aspects went well, but this is likely due to the fact that this was a continuation of our regular service The Fareshare delivery was excellent, with it we were able to make Treat bags for young people entering our Halloween competition. The inclusion of breakfast cereal was noted by families as a major positive. The fruit and vegetables were incredibly fresh and lasted for the 3 days. Due to COVID restrictions we had families within the community isolating and were able to drop food to them. We worked closely this half term with local PCSO's and Derbyshire Dales District Council to promote a Treat Not Trick Halloween and distribute Activity sets with a Community Safety theme.