Businesses urged to back charity’s hunger campaign

Leeds Community Foundation, in partnership with Leeds City Council, has launched its Holiday Hunger Campaign to support healthy holidays for children across the city.

Holiday Hunger is of increasing concern and is a real problem for those who already rely on free school meals.  In Leeds it has become an emerging priority for the city, with some families in Leeds struggling to meet the costs of feeding their children during the holidays.

The Holiday Hunger Campaign will give out grants to local projects that run activities during the school holidays to enable vulnerable children to have access to food, fun activities, learning and support for families.

Leeds City Council has committed £75,000 to the fund and now the Holiday Hunger Campaign is looking to the Leeds business community to recruit key corporate donors to support the campaign, alongside this, businesses and their employees are encouraged to take part in the #LeedsFoodFuddle.

#LeedsFoodFuddle is a fun, seasonal activity and provides a toolkit to bring together colleagues, friends and families through the making and sharing of food with all proceeds going to the Holiday Hunger Campaign.

Kate Hainsworth, deputy CEO of Leeds Community Foundation, said: “The Holiday Hunger campaign has been launched with a significant injection from Leeds City Council, but for us to really have an impact on the ground, we need to attract and raise more funds to ensure the resultant grant making scheme is reaching the families that need help the most.

“We are approaching key corporate donors to be part of this high profile campaign and I know this is a busy time for individuals, families and business, but we do hope that people can find the time to take part in the #LeedsFoodFuddle or raise money for Holiday Hunger through already planned Christmas activities”.

 Councillor Debra Coupar, Leeds City Council’s executive member for communities, said: “No family should have to worry about being able to feed their children during the school holidays so we are very pleased to be working with the Leeds Community Foundation to start the Holiday Hunger fund.”

Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, said: “We want to ensure that we can help families next year that’s why we have allocated a substantial sum to kick start the fund. We now need businesses to get on board and do what they can to help young people in every part of the city to be able to fulfil their potential.”