Chartwells, the leading specialist provider of catering to the education sector, is gearing up for the summer holidays where it will continue to deliver its impactful Holiday Provision Programme across the country. Over the summer, Chartwells aims to support over 500 children, parents and volunteers across nearly 30 workshops, in five different cities in the UK.
As part of this programme, Chartwells will be offering nutrition and cooking education with the aim of teaching children and families about the importance of food and how to cook healthy, basic dishes from scratch. In addition, nutritionists will visit lunch clubs and provide resources such as ‘cooking healthily on a budget’, Change4Life materials, Chartwells’ bespoke recipe packs and the Public Health Eatwell Guide.
In areas of need, Chartwells will also donate packaged ambient food, loose fruit and vegetables, packaged frozen food, bakery items and packaged meat, fish, eggs and dairy produce to Holiday Provision clubs during the school holidays.
Chartwells began their Holiday Provision journey in February 2018 by supporting local voluntary organisations and partnering with charities such as the Mayor’s Fund for London (Kitchen Social), Brakes (Meals and More), Transforming Lives for Good (TLG), Edinburgh City Council and the Norfolk Food Bank to deliver nutrition workshops and educational resources to families attending the holiday clubs.
Up to three million children in the UK are at risk of going hungry during the school holidays and Chartwells nutritionists work closely with their public health teams, and local charitable organisations to identify the area’s most in need of holiday provision support.
Richard Taylor, Managing Director, Chartwells commented, “We work hard to ensure that children are receiving both nutritious and delicious food as well as food education during term time.
'We also recognise the importance of continuing to educate both children and their caregivers about food and nutrition during school holidays, ensuring children remain fuelled and receive the nutrition they require.
'By teaming up with charities and clients, we are pleased to be able to deliver this education and meal support over the six weeks break to many children across the country. I am so proud of my team and their passion to go above and beyond.”
Throughout 2018 Chartwells’ nutrition and education teams supported nearly 1,000 children, parents and volunteers across four partnerships, in five different cities in the UK. This year, Chartwells has continued their valuable work throughout the school holidays, with a focus on local and sustainable support.
Recent holiday provision activity saw Chartwells partnering with Youth First, a community benefit society, in South East London, where they delivered five cook and eat workshops to 60 young people between the ages of 4 and 19 years over the Easter holidays.
Sessions were developed with three themes in mind: Driving excitement around vegetable consumption; teaching young people to ‘batch cook’; and cooking healthily on a budget. One child commented “I’ve never eaten and liked so many vegetables before!” With another adding “‘I never knew how to cut an onion, I really like cooking!”
Additionally, in St Helens, Merseyside our Chartwells nutritionists teamed up with Transforming Lives for Good (TLG), a Christian charity that supports churches to bring hope and a future to struggling children through their ‘Make Lunch’ events.
Over the two visits, Chartwells delivered four workshops to more than 180 club attendees. These included: learning to make Super Snacks from Beyond the Chartwells Kitchen’s Fit Food Module – simple nutritious delicious snacks without the need for cooking and using the Smoothie Bike – where children and parents were able to make their own smoothies and take fruit and vegetables home with them to continue the fun.
Beryl, TLG Coordinator & Volunteer spoke of the partnership: “We can’t thank Chartwells enough for being part of our ‘Make Lunch’ events over the Easter Holidays. They did such a fantastic job and all the children, their parents and volunteers loved having them around.”