Many organisations across the UK are planning to hold holiday events on #MakeRioCount Day, 4 August that will involve providing a good meal for children and families, along with sports and fun activities.
The aim is partly to showcase the good work being done by schools, charities, local councils and others to provide square meals and free activities in the school holidays -- a time when, without free school meals, children in vulnerable families can experience hunger.
But the day will also be an opportunity to highlight Sustainable Food Cities' call for targeted policy in the UK to eradicate food poverty and improve life chances for women and children most at risk of a poor diet. Specific measures would:
- Increase the uptake and value of Healthy Start vouchers
- Protect and improve child nutrition during the school holidays by piloting holiday food provision for the UK’s most vulnerable children
- Conduct annual national measurement of household food insecurity
To find out more, participate or help publicise the events, visit the website here.
Read more about Sustain's involvement with Sustainable Food Cities and our work on food poverty here, including the report Time to Count the Hungry, calling for national measurement of food insecurity in the UK.
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
