Thousands of meals and creative recipe boxes were once again given out to school children during the half-term, the latest effort as part of the Greenwich Together for Winter campaign.

Over the last two months, over 90,000 meals have been given to children in the borough, and the council say they are committed to ending food poverty.

Once again for half-term, the local authority and local organisations and volunteers made sure families who usually receive extra support "were not forgotten about," and there was no need to book, families could just turn up and receive a meal.

Hand-packed grab-and-go lunches were on offer at six of Greenwich's libraries and leisure centres, and demand was so great the partners had to ask for more food.

This Is Local London:

Lunch packs for school children have been a hot topic in recent months, but these lunches (a total of 1,850 were given out in five days) contained 'nutritious' wraps, carrot sticks, apples and fruit-based deserts, plus 50 free Charlton shirts.

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Matt Morrow, said: “I am immensely grateful to everybody who worked so hard to ensure access to food for all young people who needed it this winter.

“We had a number of initiatives on offer over the last few months, and they have proved vital. Our priority is our fantastic students and making sure that they have the support they need to thrive and flourish.

This Is Local London:

“Thanks to the pandemic we all know how prevalent food insecurity is. In Royal Greenwich, we are committed to making it a thing of the past and we will continue to offer as much support as we can to anybody who needs it.”

The Greenwich Together for Winter project, which kicked off in December, has so far totalled:

  • 4,410 packed lunches
  • 8,367 Breakfast bags in December
  • 2,436 Take and Make boxes in February

As well as lunches, hundreds of Take-and-Make boxes were given to secondary school pupils, brimming with fresh ingredients to cook a filling meal at home with the whole family.

A total of 2,436 boxes, containing ingredients and recipes, were given out. The orders included6 67 chilli non carnes, 754 sweet potato and chick pea curries, 361 spicy bean burgers, 320 sweetcorn fritters and 334 pasta pangrattato.

This Is Local London:

And along with supplying free, nutritious meals to our young people, 10,000 support payments were sent out to households who usually receive free school meals between December and February.

Councillor Danny Thorpe, the Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, added: “Holiday meals are not a new initiative in Royal Greenwich, but clearly demand has shown it is more important than ever. We know that half-term can be challenging for some families and that has undoubtedly been worsened by the impact of COVID-19.

"The feedback we have had on our schemes how just how vital they are, and we will continue to help where we can.”

The council added that half-term can be stressful, and everyone should have the right to food.

"Thanks to Marcus Rashford, we know how widespread holiday food insecurity is.

"Sadly, every day thousands of children wake up in poverty. This winter, we have tried our best to help end child food poverty."

The Greenwich Together for Winter campaign brings together businesses, community groups, faith groups, schools, nurseries and volunteers from across the borough to provide food and meals for people and families on low incomes, and company for those who might be on their own this Christmas.