Penny Appeal donates food bags to students in a bid to end holiday hunger

Penny Appeal is donating hundreds of food packs to students in the UK, who are entitled to free school meals, and students in Bradford recently benefitted from this – and they plan to feed more and more students across the October half-term, and Christmas holidays. 

Since Penny Appeal’s inception in 2009, the charity has worked to ensure the life-changing projects it operates abroad are also serving those most in need here in the UK – and their Holiday Hunger Programme is one way they’re doing this. 

The Holiday Hunger programme was launched several years ago and has since been serving food bags, which include meat packs, non-perishable food items, and frozen meals, to thousands of children across Yorkshire and Humberside, the Northwest, West Midlands, and East and West London, during the school holidays.

Mohammed Azum, head of Carlton Bolling, a secondary school in Bradford, said: “We have been working with Penny Appeal for a while now and the work it is doing regarding tackling holiday hunger is very important.

“Initially we were getting 20 to 30 food parcels and now we’re getting 50 to 60.

“It’s a really difficult time for families, especially with inflation and because we have such a strong relationship with parents, and they trust us we are able to support them. We are really grateful for the food parcels. It makes a huge difference.”

This time of year can be extremely difficult for families, as they prepare for Christmas, especially with the effects of the current cost of living crisis. So, Penny Appeal is dedicated to feeding as many families as possible during this time. 

But they can’t do it without your help! 

If everyone in the UK donated just 1p to penny appeal, in one whole year we could raise over half a million pounds for the charity! This just goes to prove that what we class as ‘small change’ can make a ‘big difference’ to people who are less fortunate than us. Something as small as a penny, something that we in the developed world see as worthless, can change lives in other parts of the world forever.

It has been estimated that more than 1 million more people will face poverty this winter, pushing UK deprivation levels to its highest level in two decades. Experts have predicted that this will also result in an increase in avoidable deaths with families struggling to make ends meet.

Founder, Adeem Younis, said: “This is just not good enough, the Government needs to be pre-empting the impact holiday hunger will have on the lives of millions of children, and act accordingly.

“I am astounded at how reliant this country has become on the charity sector regarding an issue as extreme as this one. In today’s day and age, the thought of parents going without food so they can feed their children is just absurd. 

“It has now become the norm that as a charity we find ourselves not only feeding starving children in the poorest countries in the world but also here in the UK too.”

To help Penny Appeal on its mission to feed those in need this winter, visit their site here!