Community Kitchen Help For Families

Burnley Community Kitchen, working in partnership with Burnley Together, has sent referral forms to schools, colleges and nurseries across Burnley and Padiham, with education staff identifying families in need and referring them into the community kitchen to receive food parcels.

For many families’ school holidays can result in a lack of access to free school meals. If a family is experiencing food poverty, then without support, a child may not eat, making this campaign a lifeline for many.

Burnley Community Kitchen and Burnley Together ran the campaign in December to support families over the Christmas holidays. Referrals were made via schools and over 200 food parcels were supplied to families in need of help, feeding over 800 people.

As the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic continue to affect families across the town, the need for the campaign continues, resulting in referral forms being sent out to local schools again this month offering support for February half-term.

Head of Facilities, Matt Hargreaves, said: “Individuals can experience food poverty for any number of reasons, including unexpected on off expenses, unemployment, 80% furlough, bereavement, poor mental health and addiction.

"Many people are just one payday away from experiencing financial difficulties affecting their ability to provide food for themselves and their families, therefore the work of Burnley Community Kitchen remains vital.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, there are 2,000 additional people living in Burnley and Padiham claiming Universal Credit, since becoming unemployed and a recent study undertaken by Loughborough University shows that nearly 40%, that’s over 7,000 children, living in Burnley and Padiham are growing up in poverty.

"The impact of this on a child is significant, with poor nutrition affecting a child’s physical, mental and educational health.

"We want to ensure these children do not go hungry which is why it was so important to us to re-run the campaign we delivered successfully with our partners at Christmas.”

If you are from a local school, college or nursery and have not received a referral form, please contact Burnley Community Kitchen on communitykitchen@burnleyfc.com.

The deadline for referral forms to be received by the kitchen for February half-term food parcels is Friday 29th January 2020. Food parcels will be delivered to schools by Burnley FC in the Community shortly before half-term to be distributed to families.