It’s a great day for the people of the UK. Holiday hunger is real but there is a fight against it. The thought of 1.3million children in our country going hungry during the summer holidays is utterly heartbreaking. The fact that there is child poverty in the UK, in 2020, is beyond ridiculous anyway but the idea of having a voucher scheme that works during term time and not during the holidays makes no sense. I am glad that it has got the press attention it deserved (thank you Marcus Rashford!) and I am glad Boris Johnson has made the u-turn on his plans.
The Summer Holidays
To me, summer holidays when you’re a child should be full of fun. Going out into the park, playing on the swings, kicking a football about. Absolutely 100% carefree and enjoying life. Six weeks of adventure and riding your bike or kicking a football around. Camping in your garden, the sand between your toes on the British beaches, enjoying the time off school, whatever the weather.
The reality though, is that there are many families, that struggle during the time away from school. School term time provides a structure to life. It provides food, shelter, warmth and support. From breakfast clubs to lunchtime meals to after school services, there are children who spend a lot of time at school and they feel safe there. They often feel safer there than at home, through no fault of their own of of their parents. There are parents out there, both married couples, those in relationships and single parents who struggle to put food on the table. They work hard, ridiculously hard every day for hours upon end but there isn’t always enough money to put food on the table. So when schools close for the six week holiday, those six weeks are long and bring with them holiday hunger.
Unite The Divide
The divide between the poorest people in this country and the richest is getting even bigger. We’re at risk of those who are struggling in society, not surviving. It sounds dramatic but it’s true. It’s all too easy to ignore it if it doesn’t affect you, but if the last few months has taught us anything is that we’re all in this together. A united front is better than division. When we work together amazing things can happen and we must all find a way out of poverty for the children in our country. They are all our children. They are the future of our industries, the future of our government, the future of the country we live in called Great Britain. And we are failing them.
We, are, failing them.
The voucher system that is in place to stop holiday hunger is great right now. But we must get to the root cause of the problem. Jamie Oliver and others have been campaigning for better quality school food for years and we must continue that fight. Our children deserve the best, not to be cast aside and ignored.
Use Your Platform
There are so many fights currently being taken on. Everyone wants their voice to be heard but for the sake of our children and our children’s children, we must use our voices. Step up and let those in charge know that we will not accept it anymore. Speak to your MP, email them, bombard them on social media. Make an appointment to go and see them if you feel you can. They need to work for us. They need to put the future generations of this country in the forefront of policies and put an immediate stop to children going to bed hungry.
