One of Leicestershire’s biggest employers is helping feed thousands of disadvantaged children this half term.
Melton-based Samworth Brothers has teamed up with Leicester City Council and Leicester City Football Club on a holiday food programme to support children in Leicester who normally have a free school meal.
The programme is being led by Leicester City Council to provide families with the ingredients they need to make five tasty lunches at home this holiday, together with simple instructions for making the meals.
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National food-to-go giant Samworth Brothers owns the Ginsters pasties, Soreen and Dickinson and Morris pork pie brands, and is a huge player in the 海角视频’s sandwiches, savouries and ready meals markets.
Adam King, part of the co-ordinating team at Samworth Brothers, said: “We were provided with the recipe cards for the five meals, and our Samworth Brothers distribution and business development teams have worked closely with our supply partners to deliver nearly 14,000 food boxes to 109 schools across Leicester.
“Behind the scenes it has been a giant team effort. The Samworth Brothers Supply Chain distribution site at Oak Meadow on Scudamore Road, Leicester, has been the hub for a massive packing and distribution process.
“More than 300 pallets of food were broken down into 450,000 single units and packed into mixed food parcels for each child via a conveyor line with 21 packing stations.
“Then the Samworth Brothers Coldcall van fleet and Samworth Brothers Supply Chain made a total of 125 delivery drops over two days.
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“It was quite a challenge, but we have some fantastic people who pulled out all the stops to make it happen. We are passionate about our role within our local communities and we’re pleased we have been able to support such a great initiative.”
Leicester City stars Jonny Evans, Ricardo Pereira, Ayoze Pérez, Marc Albrighton and Luke Thomas showed their support for the scheme with videos of them making the family favourites, such as ‘easy-peasy’ pizza and tuna & vegetable frittata.
The videos were posted on the club’s social media platforms to encourage youngsters to have a go at making the dishes themselves.
Deputy city mayor Coun Sarah Russell said: “Almost 14,000 children and young people in Leicester are eligible for free school meals and it’s vital that they don’t miss out on a meal when the schools are closed.
“I’d like to thank the team at Samworth Brothers and Leicester City Football Club for helping us to support thousands of young people and their families across the city with this important half-term initiative, the volunteers who helped deliver the boxes to local schools, and the organisations who are providing activities as part of the programme.”
Each box will include the ingredients needed to make the five meals featured in the recipe cards – lentil curry, chickpea tray bake, quick pizza, tuna & vegetable frittata, and tuna & sweetcorn pasta.