We urgently need to expand our food support in disadvantaged local communities, to provide free afterschool meals for struggling families. 

 

Our support services, based in the heart of some of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities in West Norwich the Larkman and Marlpit 

housing estates – have been inundated with families in urgent need of help and support since the onset of the Cost of Living crisis.  

 

Already struggling households are facing a heartbreaking new reality: children are becoming malnourished, families cannot heat their homes and face eviction due to arrears, and problem debt is mounting. Parents are going without food to ensure their children are fed, some of these families are two parent working families.  

 

Norfolk was recently named as having the highest rates of malnutrition in the whole of the UK. Our local infant school in West Earlham was recently featured in the Guardian for the high numbers of young children turning up at school with visible signs of malnourishment, including bowed legs and heart palpitations. Our support teams have dealt with truly tragic consequence of the severe hardship affecting local communities, including multiple children under 10 having teeth extracted or experiencing severe gut problems due to malnutrition and poor diet. 

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To try to provide as much help as we can, last year we:  

• Provided one-to-one support for 1,028 people, to escape crisis and get back on their feet   

• Provided 250 community meals for local residents to attend and access free food for their families.   

• Operated as a ‘warm hub’, for those who cannot afford to heat their homes, throughout last Winter 

• Opened a community fridge in our Centre, providing fresh and tinned food, and daily essentials, to anyone in need  

• Packed and deliver Christmas Hampers – full of food and essentials – for 302 struggling households 

 

But it’s simply not enough. So many local people are still struggling to provide food for their families, particularly those with young children who struggle to access food support around school hours.  

 

So, we need to extend our free community meal programme into the late-afternoons, for parents to drop in after school and ensure their children have hot, healthy evening meals.