The meal deal for the pupils in council’s schools...

WHILE schools remain closed for most children, and thousands of us are working from home, in one part of Wales an army of people is working to ensure children get fed every single day.

Wearing high-vis jackets and with smiles on their faces, a group of people in Caerphilly are going the extra mile for children in the county borough by ensuring thousands of free meals are delivered to pupils each week.

Something that started off as a simple scheme at the beginning of lockdown has grown, as the team has worked tirelessly to make it a success and keep up with the growing demands of the community during the coronavirus pandemic.

The project is all being run under the watchful eye of Marcia Lewis, 54, who works as the principal officer for catering at Caerphilly council.

She’s been in the role for around 12 years but, it’s probably fair to say, she’s never had to take on a challenge as big as the one she’s tackled over the past few weeks.

Marcia said: “On March 20, when the announcement from Welsh Government came that schools were closing due to the Covid-19 situation, we had to think very quickly really as to how we would make the most of the free school meal provision.”

At first they had to rustle some ideas up pretty quickly and started off with a sandwich meal, but then the team started working with their local suppliers to see what could be done to really make a difference to families in need of a helping hand.

“We worked with a number of suppliers to see if we could have a box which would comprise of five meals,” she added.

“They get to have the free school meal in box.”

Eventually an idea was devised whereby the children would get five frozen meals to see them through the school week.

Once the logistics were in place – such as how they could be delivered to families’ doorsteps and how the food could be stored – a plan was put into action.

Within three weeks the project was up and running – and it’s thrived ever since.

Now families are even receiving fruit and vegetable boxes, and bread and milk, as part of the package.

The fruit and vegetable boxes have been educational for the students and their parents.

Marcia said: “We had 2,500 in the first week and now we’re just about hitting the 5,000 mark per week, which we do over three days.

“We put recipes in there and they can cook along with the children as part of their education.

“They have different things that they wouldn’t have normally – this week they had spinach, baby corn, carrots and potatoes.

“We wanted to look at how we could support the NHS Stay At Home campaign.”

Since the scheme started, Marcia said the team have delivered around 152,000 meals, which, she said, is incredible.

She said the council’s normal uptake on free school meals is around 70%, but it has gone up to 91% since lockdown began.

Those who are eligible can apply for the service online, and if any meals are left over they go towards helping vulnerable and elderly people in the community.