The Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation has partnered with Meals & More, a charity aiming to end holiday hunger and social isolation, and a number of community foundations of leading sports clubs in the UK, to provide nutritious meals and sports clubs for children during school holiday periods.

In the UK, up to three million children are at risk of going without healthy and nutritious meals during the holidays when they do not benefit from free school meals, according to FareShare, the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity.

The Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation is aiming to pilot four key programmes in Leeds, Blackburn, Everton and Newcastle, with the mission to make a difference in the community, focusing on education, health and social inclusion, sports participation and youth inclusion.

The foundation will work with Sodexo’s clients’ charitable and community foundations - Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, Leeds Rhinos Foundation, Blackburn Rovers Community Trust, Everton in the Community and Newcastle United Foundation – to support free sessions of sporting and educational activity for thousands of children in 2020. The locations for the activities have been recognised as areas of the UK where social deprivation is high and holiday hunger is more prominent.

The first location for activities, taking place this week, is a local primary school in Leeds. During the week children will play rugby and cricket with Stop Hunger providing volunteer support for three days to register children, assist coaches, support the lunch set up, distribute lunches and assist with clearing up. Food will be provided from supply chain partners of Sodexo including Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, PepsiCo and Reynolds.

Nick Byrom, Business Development Director at Sodexo Sports & Leisure and Trustee of the Stop Hunger Foundation said: “We’re really delighted to be able to work closely with our clients and partners to deliver an activity that will have a direct and tangible impact to children in these communities.

This is a great example of how Sodexo can leverage the power of our people and services through our Stop Hunger Foundation to provide social value and support those in need.

The Stop Hunger initiative was created by Sodexo in 1996 to support a variety of charities that help to tackle hunger and malnutrition, either through directly feeding vulnerable people, delivering education or skills training that equip individuals to improve their overall wellbeing and eating habits.

Meals & More, the independent charity initially set up by Brakes in 2015, provide support to children who live with poverty and social isolation and have limited access to adequate food provision and activity throughout school holiday period.

Activities in conjunction with the foundations of Blackburn, Everton and Newcastle, which will also be supported by volunteers and paid employees, will take place in July and August 2020.

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