A charity worker has launched a petition calling on chain restaurants to give schoolchildren free meals during the holidays.
Dan Clifton, who works with a team of volunteers in Shirehampton and provides free meals to youngsters during the breaks, says the government could support such an initiative, like they did during the Eat Out to Help Out, during the pandemic.
While many chain restaurants offer ‘kids eat free' deals or ‘kids eat for £1’ during the school holidays, Dan believes that such discounts miss the children who really need them. “Often they need a paying adult to get the free meal so they end up spending £20 for the meal and for some families, that’s their weekly food budget," he said.
Dan began the free meals initiative at the Port of Bristol Sports and Community Hub over a year ago when he became the chair of the charity. Ever since, the team at PBA have been giving out free meals to school-aged children every day during the holidays.
READ MORE: The Bristol community hub ensuring no child goes hungry during school holidays
While the PBA had been granted funding from Feeding Bristol, the money came in almost a year after the free meals initiative started. The community hub, which also serves food and to paying customers, has mostly funded the free food with its profits. Dan believes that restaurants up and down the country could do the same and the government should help subsidise the cost.
He said: “I've made it my goal while [at PBA] to try and help as many children locally as possible to have a hot meal when not at school, even on teachers strike days, as I'm sure because a school is closed a child might miss out on a meal. In a so-called wealthy country, we need to do more as a whole, especially as we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
“People are struggling to heat their homes, pay their bills and feed their families. We have multi-million pound restaurant chains that could do more for children.
“This could easily be achieved as these restaurants operate nationwide. Offering a free meal or kids eat for £1 is not good enough in my opinion when you have to spend £20 or so to qualify for one free kids meal.
"This is not targeting those who need it most. Some families only have £20 to feed themselves for a week let alone blowing it on one meal. In my eyes a hungry child is one of the worst things you could ever think of and sadly it happens every day in the UK.
“Imagine a UK where you could walk into any food establishment and give your child a meal without feeling obliged to purchase anything. Something that I think is totally achievable. Maybe the government could subsidise and utilise these nationwide companies who have the facilities, manpower and space, like the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
“I know this would be a lot of work and would be happy to assist such a scheme, holiday hunger has gone on long enough and something needs to be done one way or another.
"We are only a small place running on fumes and we manage to help our community and families with free food, so if somewhere like us can do it, anyone can.”
You can find the petition here.
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