West Dunbartonshire’s holiday hunger programme looks set to continue during the October and Easter breaks as the council finalises what services it can offer to local children.
It comes after the council agreed to extend the Holiday Hunger Fund in 2023 to ensure the provision of meals and social activities were made available to schoolchildren over holiday periods.
Funding of £100,000 has been invested by the council each year to enable community partners to work together to address the challenges of holiday hunger and associated increased costs for families.
The Scottish Government committed a further £19,993 to support the needs of children with disabilities in accessing Summer activities.
The money allowed new and existing groups to provide a range of activity sessions during the school holidays.
During the most recent education committee, questions were asked about what programmes would be available during other school holiday periods.
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Councillor Sophie Traynor said: “I would like to echo my thanks to the organisations that took part over the summer.
“I am just wondering if there is any information about the plans for the October week given that it is only a few weeks away at this point.”
A council officer said: “We plan to reach out to some of our key partners but the challenge for them is about staffing and availability to cover that period so we are still trying to finalise what that could look like but it will be a much reduced offer.
“We will take what we can at this time for October and what we don’t use, we will take forward to helping with Christmas and with Easter.”
This year’s programme, with the support from 22 community partners, provided a range of sessions to families, with targeted support for those who needed it most.
This included West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare, which supported 700 children by providing 350 brunch bags consisting of five days' worth of breakfast, lunches, snacks and packed lunches across every week of the summer break supported by their combined SHINE and Cash for Kids funding.
More than 1,500 families attended events at the Golden Friendship Halls and Y-Sort-it supported Young Carers with a range of day trips, including a fishing trip and a walk on the West Highland Way.
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Vale of Leven Football Club ran a very popular football camp with 52 children attending their fun training and coaching sessions. Children took part in football drills and games that promoted confidence, skill building and inclusion with the club serving 260 meals as part of the programme.
Following the meeting, Councillor Clare Steel, convener of educational services said: “I can’t underestimate how much families rely on the SHINE programme over the holiday to keep the children busy and get much-needed lunches and snacks at the events.
“I was delighted to visit some of the organisers over the summer holidays and personally thank them for their commitment to supporting local children and families.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in arranging this very successful programme which offered increased learning opportunities and fun activities at no cost to parents. We have built a great partnership with local organisations and through working together we offered a very successful summer of fun activities and forming friendships.
“I am particularly pleased to see places offered to support families with children who need additional support.
It is also very encouraging to see the very positive feedback from parents and carers which shows how popular these activities are to the children and their families.”
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