Families throughout Trafford will have access to a wide range of holiday food projects and support this Christmas thanks to a grant from Trafford Housing Trust and school holiday support payments from Trafford Council.
The £10,000 grant for the Active Appetites project will mean seven different schools and community groups throughout the borough will be able to provide much-needed lunches, hot meals, food hampers and vouchers during the two-week holidays. It takes the total for Active Appetites grants awarded to local groups to over £85,000 for the year. Support is available in Sale, Flixton, Urmston, Partington, Stretford, Old Trafford and Altrincham, and families can find their nearest winter food support provider by calling the helpline on 0300 330 9073.
Trafford Council will also continue to support families with a child in receipt of free school meals through the holidays as part of the Government’s national Household Support Fund. All families who live in Trafford and have a child in receipt of a free school meal will be awarded £30 cash payment, per child, per school holiday week in December. For the February half term and Easter holidays, this will be a £15 cash payment, per child, per school holiday week.
School holiday support has previously been a voucher scheme but this will now become a cash-first scheme, with applicants who live in Trafford being paid the cash equivalent into their bank accounts. All families who live in Trafford and are currently in receipt of free school meals are required to make an application for support in order to receive their award within the application window, with the link to access this form supplied by their schools.
To ensure no child misses out, families not resident in Trafford but with a child attending a Trafford school and eligible for free school meals will be able to receive vouchers to the equivalent amount for the December holidays, distributed via their schools.
For wider support for fuel and other essentials, more information including details of how to apply is available on our website.
Lesley Fraser, Vice Chair of The Toy House in Flixton and Urmston, said:
“The Toy House is providing hampers of long-life food to families on low incomes in our local area for the Christmas school holidays. Last Christmas we were amazed at how others wanted to help us so we actually doubled our number of hampers, plus through toy and money donations we were able to give each child a toy and some treats.
“The same has happened again this year and thanks to Trafford Housing Trust and our local community, last week 66 bags of food plus toys and treats were handed to local health visitors and schools to give to needy families.”
Larry Gold, CEO of Trafford Housing Trust, said:
“The last two years have been incredibly challenging for most of us, and this Christmas will be very difficult for families struggling to put food on the table. By providing funding and teaming up with these great community-focused organisations we hope that we can take away some of the challenges facing families to ensure they can have the best winter break possible.”
Cllr Tom Ross, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Finance and Governance said:
“Cash and voucher payments from the Household Support Fund will make a big difference to families over the festive period and I am pleased the Council is able to support eligible children and young people in this way.”
Trafford residents struggling at any time, especially in relation to getting food or medication or feeling isolated, can get practical help from Foodbank/Trafford Assist: call the helpline on 0300 330 9073 and choose option 4 for Trafford, or use a webchat service at www.casort.org
Posted on Tuesday 21st December 2021