Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Support provided to thousands of Scottish families that faced hunger this summer

Dave Simmers, chief executive of CFINE.
Dave Simmers, chief executive of CFINE.

A national food charity provided surplus food to 76 holiday projects during the summer and estimates that at least 6,315 children accessed meals at these projects every week.

FareShare, the UK’s biggest food redistribution charity – which has warehouses in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow – delivered an estimated 56,192 meals to children at risk of hunger over the school summer break.

The food provision was coordinated in partnership with local authorities including Aberdeen City Council, funders and community groups across Scotland.

Organisations receiving food from FareShare also provided activities such as sport, drama and cooking lessons to ensure children were kept well fed and active – so they were able to return to school healthy and ready to learn.

Across the UK, an estimated three million children are at risk of going hungry over the school holidays when the safety net of free school meals is removed, placing additional stress and financial pressure on vulnerable and low-income families.

Rachel Carr, network development manager for FareShare Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “For parents of children who normally receive free school meals, the summer can be a really difficult time – with the strain of added food costs, activities and childcare leaving many families struggling to provide food.

“This summer’s work by our regional centres across Scotland aimed to address the issue and demonstrate the glaring need for enhanced food provision and support for low-income families in our communities over the summer.

“With the support of our food partners, we’re grateful we were able to provide more support to frontline charities tackling holiday hunger than before.

“But in order to ensure no child goes hungry as soon as school is out – whether that’s Easter, Christmas or summer – we’re appealing to the food industry for more child-friendly food, such as fruit, cereal and juice. Every donation can make a real difference.”

FareShare’s Scotland Regional Centres are run by partner charities, including Cyrenians in Edinburgh, Move On in Glasgow, CFINE in Aberdeen and Transform in Dundee.