#School #Holidays will leave UK families relying on #foodbanks to #feed their #children @EAPN @NUTonline @MumsnetTowers THE SUMMER holidays will leave many families relying on foodbanks to feed their children, according to experts. So-called ‘holiday hunger’ means a significant increase in demand for #emergency food supplies as provided by the ever-growing number of food-banks. Costs associated with the summer holidays plunge many families into poverty and make them “transitionally poor”, according to foodbank manager Lisa Marsh. She said families were going hungry as a result of having to provide more meals, pay for expensive school uniforms and arrange more child care. She said: “In our experience, whenever there are school holidays more than a week long there’s a big increase in people needing our help. “A lot of children get #free school meals and when the holidays come, there’s nothing there to replace that. “When they have parents who are struggling, that free school meal is often the main meal of the day for children. “The holidays have a huge impact on the ability of some families to provide for themselves and for their children. “We’ll see parents going without meals to feed their families and we get single parents who usually have their children on a weekend suddenly having to take on extra childcare and feed them through the week too. “There’s also an impact on the elderly who might be struggling to feed themselves but won’t say no to looking after their #grandchildren.”
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 14:34:09 +0000