Extending free school meals programmes through the summer holidays could help ease food insecurity for children in Cayman, charity leaders believe.
Government recently expanded its free meals programme to include all children in government schools. But while that policy initiative expanded the number of pupils eligible for food support during term time, there are still youngsters going hungry over the holidays.
Meals on Wheels, the Cayman Islands Food Bank and Acts of Random Kindness all indicated a surge in demand from families with children during the holidays.
ARK’s Tara Nielsen hopes government could follow the recent policy initiative
in the UK and provide meals for the most vulnerable children outside of term time.
“Kids have been home from school during the summer and for some families that additional cost is too much,” she said.
Jennifer West, of Meals on Wheels, and Marie Eden, of the Cayman Islands Food Bank, also highlighted increases in demand from the charitable sector when schools are closed.
Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford was awarded an MBE for leading a campaign in the UK to have school meal programmes extended through summer holidays.
Rashford has spoken openly about his own struggles with food poverty when he was younger, the BBC reported.
He said: “Without the kindness and generosity of the community I had around me, there wouldn’t be the Marcus Rashford you see today: a 22-year-old black man lucky enough to make a career playing a game I love.”
Rashford’s campaign, supported by a petition from over 1 million people in the UK, cast light on the issue and forced a government U-turn on policy.
Now vulnerable students in the UK get supermarket vouchers to help pay for food during the holidays.
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