The Chester Bluecoat Charity has awarded a local community church council £500 to support children from vulnerable and disadvantaged families during the summer holidays by offering them recreational day trips.
The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Ellesmere Port helps families meet their basic life needs, for example their hamper project provides a lifeline to those who struggle to afford to buy food. After consulting with local schools, they found that there was a gap in support for children during the school holidays and approached The Chester Bluecoat Charity for help to address this need.
The project will make a difference by organising fun activities for children who have not had the chance to experience them before. They will be carefree pursuits that other children might take for granted, such as an outing to a beach or farm or taking part in craft activities and family games.
Joyful experiences such as these will help improve the wellbeing of children by spending time in the outdoors, broadening their experiences and life skills and reducing loneliness, which is often heightened in the school holidays. The money is being used to aid as many families in need as possible, helping both children to make wonderful memories and parents to ease the financial burden of school holidays.
Gemma, a Community Development Worker at The Ellesmere Port Parish, commented “The grant from The Chester Bluecoat Charity is vital for us to ensure our work can continue and that so many families can receive this much needed support. We are so appreciative of this award received, and it really does go a long way to helping so many people.”
The grant awarded by The Chester Bluecoat Charity means that all the costs for the activities are covered including a meal, helping to tackle food poverty which is heightened in the summer holidays when free school meals aren’t available.
The Chester Bluecoat Charity focuses on bringing about lasting change to prevent people from being disadvantaged, in poverty or isolated and was pleased to be able to back this aligned project which supports our future generation.