COMING TOGETHER TO FIGHT HUNGER Tuesday, 27 August 2019

A report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Hunger estimates that up to 3m children are at risk of going hungry during the school holidays.

To help combat this, a team of chefs and volunteers from The Auckland Project have been preparing and cooking thousands of healthy and fresh meals, to be distributed via 14 different holiday and youth clubs in the local area throughout the summer break.

Running in partnership with Incredible Edible Bishop Auckland, it is estimated that 6,085 meals will have been distributed by the end of the six-week period.

Food suppliers, including DeliFresh, Bidfood’s Gateshead depot and Darlington-based Acorn Dairy, donated vegetables, fruit, milk, cream and cupboard staples to help create the meals.

Durham County Councillors, Shirley Quinn, Christine Wilson, Tanya Tucker and Joy Allen also supported the project, contributing from their Bishop Auckland and Shildon Area Action Partnership neighbourhood budgets.

Volunteer drivers from The Auckland Project delivered the prepared meals to youth clubs, holiday clubs, church groups and school-based transition days across the Bishop Auckland area to be provided for free to children aged from 0 to 16 taking part in holiday activities.

This included holiday activity clubs at the Bishop Auckland Fellowship of Christian Churches, Time for Toddlers, Auckland Youth and Community Centre, Wear Valley Christian Church Summer School, Shildon Alive, St John’s Church Summer Activity Club, St Anne’s Cinema Club, Incredible Edible Activity Day and Feeding Families.

Meals were also given out at King James I Academy Summer School, the Summer School at St. John’s School and Sixth Form Centre and Bishop Barrington School summer school and at The Auckland Project’s own Holiday Club which met weekly at Henknowle Community Centre for a range of fun and creative activities.