The Bristol community hub ensuring no child goes hungry during school holidays
In the holidays PBA offers free meals for kids in addition to their regular breakfast. (Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
One of Bristol’s designated warm spaces will be giving out free breakfasts and lunches everyday this February half term. The daily breakfast and lunch clubs are not means tested and are available to any school aged child or young person in Bristol.
From Dec 2022, funding from Feeding Bristol has enabled the Port of Bristol Sports and Community Hub (PBA) in Shirehampton to increase what they offer to the community. But the team of dedicated volunteers at the community hub had already been giving out free food long before they received any official funding.
Dan Clifton pictured inside the ballroom which is regularly used by dance groups and hired for children's birthday parties and private functions.
Dan Clifton, a local dad and football coach who is chair of the club, is always looking for new ways to support the community and started giving out free food in February last year. The breakfast and lunch clubs are open to everyone which he felt was important in reducing the stigma around free food that he has seen with food banks.
Mr Clifton said: “I don’t want to see kids go hungry, it’s horrible- you see so much of it in the paper. Speaking to people locally who were being transferred over to Universal Credit and there were big backlogs with it all.
“There were people who were entitled to free school dinners but they weren’t getting it yet because the paperwork hadn’t gone in yet. We also started to think about what these kids were doing in the holidays when they weren’t getting the free school dinners; they obviously needed it for a reason.
During half term children’s activities will also run on Monday and Wednesday which include pizza making and activities from We The Curious. PBA continue to offer a bargain breakfast for £3 on Thursdays and Fridays as well as a free breakfast which they say is not only there to help people save money but also a way of tackling loneliness and isolation.
PBA on Nibley Road in Shirehampton is open seven days a week and has a licensed bar with a programme of family friendly evening activities and entertainment. Their huge outdoor space is used by local football clubs and in the summer they hold fun days outside.
For more info visit pbaclub.co.uk
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-community-hub-ensuring-no-8133904
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