Millpond Primary School in Easton, Bristol receives food each week from FareShare South West. They put it to good use at their Breakfast Club, where kids and their parents come to get a good start to their school day. Millpond use the food we provide them with to support children and their families through providing free breakfasts, after school snacks, food parcels and even packed lunch for kids that need it. FSSW provides the school with everything from fresh fruit to wholemeal bread, and from baked beans to yoghurts and cheeses.
“I always have the beans, every day I have them to make me super smart!” Andy, eight and a half.
Julie Burrows is the Breakfast Club coordinator at Millpond. She collects food from our Bristol warehouse each Thursday to take back to the school. Sometimes she gets a few extra surprises- this week our volunteers sent over some Easter eggs to surprise the kids!
“When we started the Breakfast Club 3 years ago we had juice, bread and jam- and that was it. With FareShare South West, we can give our children a full breakfast and a proper start to the day. The good food we receive means that the Breakfast Club is very popular- about half the school comes, which has had a big impact on our attendance levels at school. Three years ago we had 100 pupils on our persistent absence list. Now, we only have about 14 pupils on that list.”
The free breakfast is about more than meals. Many families in the area struggle to afford a balanced diet, and some parents have breakfast there with their kids. For them, Breakfast Club takes the burden off the morning routine.
“In here they’re all having a good breakfast and it makes my life easier. We’ve been coming 2 years. Before I struggled with them, now we just get up at 8am and come. We can’t provide them with a balanced diet at home, but here we can.” Arifa Akhter, mother of Arisha (eight) and Ayaan (seven).
Julie says she always tells parents to “just get them dressed and get them here, we’ll take care of the rest”.
Shazia Kousar, comes every day with her sons Maneer and Mohammed. “My son Maneer loves to come and he won’t eat like this at home. All the mums say their kids don’t eat at home, but here, they eat.”
