Parents’ food relief over the start of term
PARENTS living on the poverty line in Cardiff have described how they go hungry to feed their children through the sixweek school summer holiday.
And they say they are “relieved” school starts again this week with free breakfast and lunches.
“I’ll be glad when term starts because the children will be fed twice a day,” said one mother from Cardiff.
The 33-year-old from Tremorfa, who did not want to be named, has five children aged seven to 13 and lives on benefits since her husband left last year, but said that had not been her choice. She had to leave her care home job because the shifts and cost of childcare were impossible for a single parent.“I live off the children’s scraps,” she said.
A nursery nurse described how she skips tea, eating cereal so her four children aged four to 18 can eat properly.
The 39-year-old single mum, whose husband also left recently, said her £600-a-month wage is not enough to live on and she would be better off on benefits, but wants to stay in work.
In term time her two youngest get free breakfast at school, although her wage puts them just outside eligibility for free school meals.
“I have been cutting down on my own food and I’ve not paid my water bill this month,” she said.
The mums say a free holiday lunch scheme has been a lifeline.
Cardiff Community Housing Association’s (CCHA) Flourish scheme, which delivered 3,000 lunches over the holidays, was the idea of teenager Lewis Craven, who lives with his parents in one of CCHA’s properties.
Lewis, who has autism and turned 17 on August 30, said he’d heard about “holiday hunger” and wanted to help.
The CCHA then planned the idea through its Lottery-funded Flourish programme. Lewis and his team of 13 chefs, aged 15 to 20, all with additional needs, made packed lunches and picnics from cut-price deliveries of items including fruit, bread, ham, cheese and yoghurt from food scheme FareShare Cymru – the Wales branch of the food redistribution charity – as well as donations.
The lunches were delivered to children at more than five council and parent-led summer playschemes across Cardiff.