Free meals for children in Penrith during school holidays

Free meals for children in Penrith as school holidays arrive

Our church in Penrith will be offering free meals for children three days a week to tackle the pressures faced by many families during the school summer holidays.

Taking place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 12:15 pm and Fridays from 11:30 am at our church on Hunters Lane, the church leaders, church team and volunteers will be offering a free meal for school age children under 16 years old with any paying adult’s meal.

Meal options include a set two-course meal and a drink, for £5 for adults, on a Tuesday and a Wednesday and a light meal option on a Friday, £3.50 for adults, which includes soup or a sandwich with dessert and a drink.

Our church leader of the Penrith church, Major Carole Donaldson, who is behind the offering said: “We wanted to offer extra support to families during the school holidays as many face tough financial choices once the extra help that they rely on from schools ends and the holidays begin and with the cost of living continuing to rise, we fear there will be more struggling this year than ever before.  

“The help we get from local organisations and also the local community trough donations of food, money and even craft supplies from The Works allows us to provide much needed extra support to those that need it and we can’t thank everyone enough.”

Advanced booking is required for both the adult and free children’s meals in order to allow the team in Penrith to plan their catering and bookings can be made by calling the church directly on 01768 866732.

Before and after the lunch, there will be a toddler and children’s activity area which will include a range of arts and crafts supplies, books and activity packs donated by staff and customers of The Works located in the town.

The free children’s meal and adult meals will not take place the week of the 15th August.

The Penrith Corps (church) has a Just Giving page available for those wishing to support and donate to the church and charity specifically for its work locally which can be found at www.justgiving.com/penrith-salvation-army and whilst all donations are welcome people are encouraged to donate only what they can afford.