As we come up to the long summer holidays we are looking at ways we can support the families we work with at this time. Holidays are often hard for families as they have to juggle childcare, provide more food and also find cheap ways to meaningfully entertain their children.
Many of our families get free school lunches, so holidays mean having to provide more meals, and even if they are creative at finding fun, free activities for the children to do, just having to find the extra travel costs alongside extra food, can tip a carefully balanced budget.
In the past we have taken extra food parcels or given Tesco vouchers, to help families at this time. We have also funded days out. These are all paid for out of our Relief Fund and it is lovely that, thanks to generous donations from our supporters, we are able to support families this way.
Whenever we give a gift from the Relief Fund, we always explain that it is funded by local Christians. It is a lovely way to show families that people do care about their struggles and that they are not alone.
If your church is in our catchment area and is running any summer activities for children, then do let us know, we would be happy to tell local families about it.
Helen Peats – Schools Work Manager