Council working to ensure that families are fed this Christmas
£84,000 to alleviate food poverty
Ensuring that hungry families are fed over the Christmas holidays will be a key priority for Eastleigh Borough Council.
That’s the message from Councillors who have committed £84,000 of grant funding this year to alleviate food poverty, including for children entitled to free school meals during the school holidays. The money is being channelled primarily to the Borough’s three food banks to support low-income families during the holiday periods. The Council will be working with other partners, including the voluntary sector, to ensure that support is available.
Working with its partners, the Council has played a key role in coordinating the response of the foodbanks and other support for vulnerable community members during the coronavirus lockdown, and this will be continued and ramped up to ensure that food supplies reach the people who need them during the holiday period.
Leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, Councillor Keith House, said: “The health and wellbeing of all our residents is the Council’s number one priority and we are playing our part to ensure that no child in the Borough will go hungry this Christmas. The Borough’s foodbanks and other support organisations do an excellent job and, at this particular time, it is the Council’s role to ensure that they have the resources they need to fill the gap in food supply that some families experience during these school holidays. As we head further into the winter months, we are calling on Hampshire County Council and the Government to also pledge real support for all our hard-pressed residents.”
The Borough’s foodbanks always welcome donations. They are located at: Hedge End Food Centre, Kings Community Church, Upper Northam Road; Hound Basics Bank, Queens View, Netley and the Eastleigh Basics Bank in Wells Place in Eastleigh Town Centre.
For more information residents should contact the Council on 023 8068 8000, or email [email protected].