A few weeks ago the BBC screened a documentary called Poor Kids, about children growing up in poverty in the UK. It profiles the lives of several children, letting them tell their own stories to camera. It’s an eye opening programme, showing the realities of a childhood without heating in winter, without holidays, and where even your next meal is far from certain. There are over 3 million children living in poverty in Britain, a pretty horrendous figure for a developed country.
Some friends of mine saw the programme, and in a great example of practical action, chose one specific thing they could do something about: 1.2 million children in Britain are on free school meals. This guarantees them one hot meal a day, no matter how chaotic their home lives may be. When the holidays come round, that meal isn’t provided, so the Make Lunch campaign was started to serve those children instead.
For the next couple of weeks, lunch will be served at two pilot locations in Luton and Corby. If it’s successful, the scheme will be extended for other holidays and hopefully other locations. The whole programme is funded by donations and staffed with volunteers. My wife and I are volunteering at the Luton location, which will be based out of a disused cafe. If you’re in the area and want to get involved, check out the website for details. You can also make a donation here – £13 will feed one child for the two and half week pilot, and £70 will provide lunch for 70 people.
Poor Kids isn’t on iPlayer right now, but someone’s uploaded it to Youtube. Here’s part one:
The Earthbound Report 