Lancaster gym restaurant and city bakery offer free meals to kids during half-term after government rejects free school meals bid

The announcement follows the vote in Parliament this week against extending free school meals for the poorest children over the school holidays.

The bid was defeated in a Commons vote by 322 votes to 261. It came after Number 10 ruled out supporting Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign to guarantee meals for 1.4m children during school breaks until Easter next year.

Morecambe Bay Foodbank has also just released a report showing that over the first eight months of 2020, it provided emergency food more than 20,000 times to people in the Lancaster district.

Many businesses around the country have now taken it upon themselves to offer support to struggling families.

Replenish Kitchen has now announced that, instead of launching a planned competition giving away a month's worth of meal prep, they will now be donating meals to those in need.

They said on their Facebook page @replenishkitchen: "After the shocking news that our government will not be helping children whose parents are struggling this half term, we have decided instead to donate as many healthy and tasty meals as we can to people who need them.

"If you are eligible for free school meals, please do drop us a line via socials and we'll get back to you with collection details.

"We want to help as many children as we can so please share or send out to anyone that may need help over half-term.

"We couldn't bear to think of any child going hungry on our watch."

And Penny Street family business The Cornish Bakery said on their Facebook @TheCornishBakery: "We are offering 100 packed lunches available to collect from our shop during half term. 20 lunches will be available each day from Monday-Friday next week.

"There is no reason why any child should go without a meal and we want to contribute as much as possible to help any families that may be facing difficult times. We encourage anyone who would benefit from a free lunch or anyone who knows someone who would benefit from one to get in touch with us privately.

"To reserve a lunch please contact us with how many lunches you need and on which day. We don’t want anyone to feel any embarrassment about reaching out so please don’t hesitate!

"If people feel uncomfortable they can also collect from the back of our shop . We are asking people to reserve the lunches so that none go to waste and also to avoid people travelling in to town if we have ran out!

"Please spread the word and help put an end up children going hungry this half-term."