STUDENTS in Bradford are being supported by an international charity to help target holiday hunger.

Penny Appeal is donating hundreds of food packs to students in the UK, who are entitled to free school meals, and students at Carlton Bolling in Bradford are benefitting from this.

Since Penny Appeal’s inception in 2009, the charity has worked to ensure the life-changing projects it operates abroad are also serving those most in need here in the UK.

The charity’s Holiday Hunger programme was launched several years ago and has since been serving food, which includes meat packs, non-perishable food items, and frozen meals, to thousands of children across Yorkshire and Humberside, the Northwest, West Midlands, and East and West London, during the school holidays.

This year, it is  planning to feed hundreds of children across the October half-term and hundreds more across the Christmas Holidays.

Mohammed Azum, head of Carlton Bolling, said: “We have been working with Penny Appeal for a while now and the work it is doing regarding tackling holiday hunger is very important.

“Initially we were getting 20 to 30 food parcels and now we’re getting 50 to 60.

“It’s a really difficult time for families, especially with inflation and because we have such a strong relationship with parents, and they trust us we are able to support them.

“We are really grateful for the food parcel. It makes a huge difference.”

It has been estimated that more than 1 million more people will face poverty this winter, pushing UK deprivation levels to its highest level in two decades. Experts have predicted that this will also result in an increase in avoidable deaths with families struggling to make ends meet.

Penny Appeal is preparing for the October half term and the critical Christmas holidays, where it will continue to expand its reach and serve more children at risk of holiday hunger, and they are determined to continue its efforts in the hope that others will also do the same.

The charity’s Founder, Adeem Younis, said: “This is just not good enough, the Government needs to be pre-empting the impact holiday hunger will have on the lives of millions of children, and act accordingly.

“I am astounded at how reliant this country has become on the charity sector regarding an issue as extreme as this one. In today’s day and age, the thought of parents going without food so they can feed their children is just absurd.

“As the founder of one the leading Muslim charities in the UK, I am most saddened by this.

"It has now become the norm that as a charity we find ourselves not only feeding starving children in the poorest countries in the world but also here in the UK too."

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