Asda takes action to help tackle holiday hunger among pupils

The Leeds-based grocer will provide the meals to children and families during the half term holiday.

It will also extend its kids eat free offer in all of its cafes in the Easter holiday. The firm said children aged 16or under can get a free, nutritionally balanced hot or cold meal when an adult spends £1. The offer is also availablein takeaways.

In addition, Asda will work with its charity partner, FareShare, to donate 150,000 meals so that vulnerable children can get nutritionally balanced meals during the holidays, a time when people struggle to feed their families.

The donation is part of Asda’s Fight Hunger Create Change programme, which has helped food redistribution charity FareShare provide over 51 million meals. Asda has also invested in the charity’s infrastructure so that an additional 4,670 charities have access to fresh, quality food across the country.

Jo Warner, Asda’s community director, said: “The past year has been extremely challenging for so many families.

"We know that throughout the school holidays, food banks and charities see an increase in demand for emergency food parcels and services, which is why we’re so pleased to be able to provide meals to families across the country who would otherwise rely on a school meal during term time.”

Lindsay Boswell, FareShare's chief executive, added: “FareShare has more than doubled the amount of food it distributes over the past year, now providing frontline charities with enough food to create over two million meals each week – with two thirds of this food being accessed by children and families.

"Asda’s investment in our infrastructure with additional warehouse space, chillers and vans has been crucial in enabling us to respond to the crisis – but we know the hard work is far from over, with vulnerable families struggling even more during half term breaks without the safety net of free school meals.

"With Asda’s support the FareShare network will be working tirelessly over the February half term to get as much good surplus food to the children and families who need it.”