CAPTION: Volunteers in St Budeaux, Plymouth, with food and craft packs ready to be delivered to families
Feast of Fun Goes Ahead At Home Following Funding Boost
The Feast of Fun initiative to help families in Plymouth and tackle food poverty is now taking place in family homes thanks to grants from local charities and businesses.
Feast of Fun usually takes place during the school holidays with churches across the city providing free holiday clubs for children with a lunchtime meal included.
It had been feared it would not be able to take place this year because of the coronavirus restrictions and cuts to charity budgets.
But the Transforming Plymouth Together (TPT) charity, which organises Feast of Fun, has managed to secure new funding from the Devon Community Foundation and Western Power which has enabled it to go ahead.
TPT has worked with churches in Plymouth to put together food hampers and “boredom buster” craft packs and activities for more than 65 families (around 250 adults and children).
The new outreach has been dubbed Feast of Fun at Home.
A number of packs have already been delivered with more going out soon.
Foodbanks see 83% rise in demand
The Trussell Trust which runs foodbank across the UK has seen an 83% rise in demand since the lockdown began in March.
Research by the Food Foundation shows that 5 million families living in households with children have experienced food insecurity since restrictions started and more than 200,000 children have had to skip meals because their parents couldn’t access food.
“The art package brought happiness to all our street”
Chris Forster, Development Manager for TPT, said: “In these strange times it is right that churches step up and support their local communities.
“This really shows how we can respond to the needs of communities with God’s love in a very practical way.”
Comments from some of the families who received the hampers and craft packs said: “The craft bags are a big help as we are finding it hard to get hold of paper and note pads for home learning.”
And “the art package the children received has brought happiness to all our street as we made lots of cards for all.”
Another family said they appreciated the recipe cards which were included with the food hampers.
