The Leeds United Foundation have been delivering a series of Healthy Holiday Camps throughout the Summer for underprivileged youngsters and families in need.

The initiative has been up and running for the first three weeks of the summer term and has been located at Meadowfield Primary School and Shakespeare Primary School, with over 100 children having attended at least one session and a total attendance of 574 across the delivery sessions so far.

During the daily sessions, children are able to take part in a variety of multi-sports and activities including educational workshops, ensuring the youngsters have the opportunity to develop and improve their skills and engagement levels.

As part of the programme, the young people taking part in the sessions are given packed lunches each day and over 150 Rethink food hampers have been provided for local families, meaning around 7,900 meals have been provided to families in need during the first half of the summer programme.

Three million children in the UK are at risk of facing Holiday Hunger during the various school holidays, with one million on Free School Meal status and two million currently being food insecure. Recent studies have shown that over 30,000 school children in Leeds can go hungry in the school holidays, with a third of parents having to skip meals so that their children can eat during the school holidays – showing the importance of programmes such as these to support those who require extra support.

Natalie Thomas, Mentoring and Healthy Holidays Project Lead, said: "There has been a definite need for the Healthy Holidays camp delivery in the Summer Holidays more than ever in 2021, after previous camps had been scaled down to single schools and with some virtual delivery due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“It has been fantastic to be able to open up the camps to all the school children in the target areas, allowing them to socialise, make new friends and build upon skills like teamwork, communication and resilience.

“Children have been able to take part in a wide range of different sport activities and have been gifted with Leeds United Foundation activity bags, including an activity booklet they can complete at home. The food hampers from Rethink Food have been well received by families and this has taken pressure off the possible Holiday Hunger some of these families may face."

For more information on the Healthy Holidays programme delivered by the club’s official charity, please contact [email protected].