Urgent appeal to help feed families in Dorchester during summer holidays
Dorchester Family Support are estimating they may need to provide 300 hampers
Donations are needed to pay for food hampers for families in the Dorchester area during the school summer holidays.
Each year some children who normally receive free school meals in term time find themselves going hungry during the summer break when the school meals are not available.
For more than a decade Dorchester Family Support has provided food hampers during the summer and at Christmas, sometimes needing to raise the funds for up to 300 hampers.
Said a statement from the charity: “We help disadvantaged children and their families by ensuring they do not go hungry during the holidays. Families can use the money they would have spent on food to provide other holiday activities which will enrich their lives.”
The hampers are generally provided for 4/5 weeks during the school summer holidays and over one week at Christmas. In the summer the charity distribute one day each week from The Thomas Hardye School while the school is closed with the Dorford Centre being used at Christmas.
Funding is provided by grants from charitable organisations, local churches and individuals with the number of hampers likely to be reduced if not enough is raised to cover the costs.
Last summer the organisation helped around 240 families in the DT1 and DT2 postcode areas and believe that it could be more this year. Each of those who are eligible will get a form from their schools.
Further information is available on the group’s website .
The group can also be contacted by email – dorchesterfs@gmail.com