An appeal from our CEO
We now know that this lockdown - England's third - is likely to continue into March, with schools staying closed for many weeks yet.
This will result in some pupils physically attending school for just 13 weeks for the past year - a situation that our teams fully recognise is challenging for all concerned, as we too continue to adapt to the changing needs of our own families, while continuing to support the community through the work that City Catering does.
As we have already seen, schools being closed is likely to have a huge and varied impact on pupils across the country. For our charity, our focus is firmly on those who rely on school support to help protect a child’s access to good food. We know from discussions with our Member schools, that the impact of lockdown on food availability is great, and diverse.
Now more than ever, schools are vital to children's nutrition, giving access to Free School Meals, Breakfast clubs, the National Fruit & Vegetable Scheme, emergency food banks, and more...
With many children learning at home, fewer pupils are enjoying a hot school meal; currently, we are serving a fifth of pre-Covid numbers, at just 9,500 meals a week, but are grateful to still be operating in schools and supporting pupils' nutrition; it is our purpose, after all. There are many well-known benefits for all who tuck into school meals, and especially those who, for many reasons, a school dinner provides the only reliable hot meal that they can access.
The impact on our organisation of such a massive fall in school meal numbers - and income - is keenly felt. I doubt any organisation can withstand an 80% fall in revenues for any sustained period. For us, it results in our charity having less ability to recover from the long-lasting impact of closures and the adapted service we have needed to deliver since September. We are still cooking. We will continue to cook. We are continuing to fundraise, adapt and utilise the Government support mechanisms.
To continue to weather this lockdown 'storm', we need the support of our community:
support to protect our school-meal service, so that we can continue adapting to the ever-changing needs of our Member schools and their communities;
support to continue our Lunch Crowd and Cooking at Home programs for those most in need;
support so that our ability to be there, every weekday, serving our vulnerable and elderly residents a hot meal at home, is protected;
support to continue to advocate, to feed, to serve, to help.
We are again in a position of unknown longevity.
This is why we are, again, appealing to you in our local community, to support us, donate and fundraise for us. Be it the cost of a school meal, a meals-on-wheels delivery, or more, we'd be so grateful.
If you can't donate just now, we would be so thrilled if you'd fundraise on our behalf. Others have:
completed challenges to keep themselves active, calm, or motivated this lockdown, and raised money for our charity in the process
reached out to their employers and colleagues, to see how they can help
Whatever contribution you can make to City Catering - your local school-meals and care-meals charity - all 230 members of our team thank you. Together, we can make a difference.
To explore ways to donate and support us, visit here.
Thank you,
Rachel, CEO