Filling The Holiday Gap: Hartlepool project to stop families going hungry returns for 2020

Applications are now open for a Hartlepool Borough Council’s ‘Filling the Holiday Gap’ scheme which looks to provide food parcels to children and families in need.

The scheme provides resources to the public sector, charitable groups and voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations to help them ensure families can provide food for young people over the holidays.

This year the scheme will be giving vulnerable families with school-aged children who are at risk of going hungry a food parcel to last throughout August, complete with recipe cards.

Council chiefs said this comes in light of the success of the food parcel scheme operated by the Hartlepool Support Hub during the Covid-19 crisis.

The food parcels will be allocated via the public sector, VCS and other charitable groups, who are asked to identify the number of families they are working with who are in need of a food parcel.

Organisations then need to apply for the parcels by completing and returning an application form by Wednesday, July 22, which is available at www.hartlepool.gov.uk/filling-the-holiday-gap-2020.

Food parcels will then be prepared for the organisations to collect and distribute to the families.

Councillor Shane Moore, Hartlepool Borough Council leader, praised the importance of the scheme and how it can help families.

He said: “The summer holidays should be a happy time for families, but for some it can be a time of very considerable financial strain.

“I am very pleased that we are once again able to help our most vulnerable families ensure that their children do not go hungry over the summer.”

Councillor Leisa Smith, chair of the council’s Children’s Services Committee, called for as many organisations as possible to come forward to help support young people and their families.

She said: “Local organisations play a key role in helping and supporting vulnerable families and I would encourage as many of them as possible to apply for food parcels for the Hartlepool families with children who they have identified would otherwise go hungry.”

It was reported by council chiefs last November across summer 2018, Christmas 2018, Easter 2019 and summer 2019, funding from the council’s child and poverty reserve supported 50 organisations as part of the ‘Filling The Holiday Gap’ scheme.

During this holiday period of 16 weeks, 3,931 children, 793 adults and 3,043 families attended the projects and benefited from 17,539 meals, 1,677 food parcels, 9,184 snacks and 1,545 combined snacks and meals.

Councillors on the Finance and Policy Committee last November also approved continuing funding for the scheme, including a budget of £25,000 for summer 2020.

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