St Luke's Lunches: Family Matters

Case Study: St Luke’s Lunches meeting the needs of families that are struggling in Barton Hill

St Luke’s Lunches supports families living in poverty in Barton Hill. They provide a free nutritional meal and engaging activities during the school holidays, an after-school family café for families to meet, play, and enjoy free snacks, and a free family food shop.

Across 50 families, they provide food for over 6,000 meals per annum.

The school holiday activities encourage children to prepare their own lunch and provide a space for families to connect. Enabling the children to make their own lunch not only fills a hunger gap but also builds lifelong skills and confidence in making healthier food choices.

The valuable family time also connects families with other families, creating a community to decrease loneliness.

The free family shop enables families to come and choose fresh ingredients to prepare family meals at home. The shop is run by local parents, offering not only food but a clothes exchange too, with a particular focus on school uniforms and warm coats.

The after-school family café is a warm space for families to come together to get free hot drinks and snacks for children to run around, play games, or get creative with Lego or crafts.

Engaging with and involving the local community is very much part of how 'St Luke's Lunches' runs.

Amy Goodwin, Project Manager, said: 'Most families in the area live in tower blocks, large families living in 1 or 2 bedroom flats. We provide the space for kids to run around playing, meeting new friends, or bringing play dates with them.

'During term time, it's child-led activities with sports, board games, Lego and crafts, and in the school holiday, we partner with Travelling Light for group play that the children love.'

'We don't just put on activities. We work closely with families in the area, asking what the need is, what's missing in the area, and how they would like to get involved. That's how the Free Family Food Shop was set up. It was created by the parents for the parents in the area. It's great to see families sharing recipes and encouraging each other to try new food.'

'We are thankful for the financial support to help us purchase food and to maintain our membership with Fareshare. We constantly seek funding to support the running costs of the family projects.’

‘We also look for people to get involved. We ask for people to volunteer at our sessions or behind the scenes, helping us with fundraising or marketing or with our website. If anyone's interested in the activities that we do here, we'd love to work together.’

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