No Child Goes Hungry With comic Relief

20 May 2020

Comic Relief awards £17,000 to support families with young children with food provisions in NI. In partnership with the Community Foundation, Comic Relief funding is supporting local families with children under the age of 10 who may face food poverty as a result of school closures and/or loss of household income as a result of COVID-19. Every child has the right to the best start in life and one way to do this is to ensure families with young children have access to good health and nutrition. Through the No Child Goes Hungry Programme, Grants of up to £2,500 are available for constituted community/voluntary organisations providing this support. 

You, Me and Them, a Dungannon project awarded £2,475 from the fund are working with households where income is low and mental health issues are present. The team identify vulnerable families in their area ensuring the delivery of healthy food,  reduce food poverty and support young children’s growth and development. They are also developing a recipe book of how to cook healthy nutritious meals on a budget and will distribute this to encourage families to cook together. 

Recognising that the closure of primary schools will extend well into the usual summer holiday period, Roe Valley Residents Association based in Limavady secured an award of £2,500 towards an eighteen-week brunch pack provision.  The programme will make a valuable contribution to addressing child hunger and health inequalities within the area 

Michael Hughes, Head of Building Sustainable Communities at the Foundation said “Good health and nutrition is vital to achieve our shared vision for children to survive and thrive. The No Child Goes Hungry Fund is supporting communities to continue to achieve this through this current crisis and is reaching real need in our communities.” 

The fund is currently open and groups can apply here.