Thank you for helping us #ActiveAte school holidays this summer!

Last week we finished our summer campaign #ActiveAte, a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of holiday hunger and increase our provision of meals for children at risk of food poverty during the school holidays.

It's a struggle that an estimated three million children experience in the UK every summer, with the effects stretching beyond the holidays, with children returning to school in September malnourished, tired and unable to learn.

With the help of our generous food partners and supporters, FareShare helped to feed at least 50,000 children across the UK each week this school holiday.

This is an increase of 150 percent from 2017. Last year, we supported 200 summer projects across the UK - in 2018, thanks to your help, we reached over 350 projects with regular food deliveries.

And if you count the additional support we provide through our FareShare Go scheme, the number of projects we supported rises to 1,000, and the total number of children we helped to feed exceeded 160,000 every week.

FareShare Chief Executive Lindsay Boswell said:
"This year’s figures in comparison to 2017 demonstrate the glaring need for food provision in our communities across the UK."

Read the full press release here.

To raise awareness of the issue, and to showcase the amazing work of our charity partners we visited summer projects across the UK this summer.

Bristol adventure playground The Ranch

"Food has been a real catalyst for change among the community here this summer."

Katie Hanchard-Goodwin, Bristol Playbus

Burgess Sports, London

"One child brought along just two slices of plain bread for his lunch – and that was it. It really hit home that food was, and continues to be, a really important part of what we offer."

Vernon, Burgess Sports

Fit and Fed, Ipswich

[caption id="attachment_33607" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Children with FareShare food at Ipswich's Fit and Fed programme[/caption]

"Without the support of FareShare the cost of purchasing food would have been much more expensive and may have made the project a non-starter."

Claudia Perrino, Fit and Fed Ipswich

Bilton Hall, North East

"Our partnership with FareShare is vital to our operation, particularly during the school holidays - and we will continue to use it as long as we are able to."

Joanna Tuck, Bilton Hall Community Trust

A day out on the vans visiting holiday projects in London

Read and Feed, Manchester

"Everybody likes FareShare. The food, which we provide for free, has drawn families into the library and they have even gone on to become members."

Margaret Duff, Read Manchester Project

Eat, Cook, Play - Kent

"We provide breakfast, a snack, then lunch, so the FareShare food has been amazing."

Rachel Hogben-Lambert, Medway Council

We also made a video to educate people about the problem that an estimated three million children are facing in the UK every summer, with the effects going beyond the holidays, affecting the children as they go back to school.

[embed]https://youtu.be/jCDMnWn6y2w[/embed]

The campaign received amazing press coverage, including broadcast, radio, as well as national and regional press.

Here are just some of the media outlets who wrote about #ActiveAte:

The #ActiveAte campaign is finishing as the summer draws to a close, but we are starting to work straight away on the next school holiday, so we can support even more children across the UK in 2019. For that, we need vital funds. Any donations made now will help us increase the holiday provision next year: recruit more food partners, reach more holiday projects, and feed more kids.

Will you help us #ActiveAte school holidays next summer?

DONATE NOW