Feast of Fun

We know there are real social issues in Plymouth. With an estimated 11,500 children in Plymouth living in poverty, local churches are making a massive difference.

Many children get a hot meal at school during term times and for some of these children it is the only hot meal they get. But what happens if they are on holiday and at home, especially when parents cannot afford to feed them during the long summer holidays? After learning about the seriousness of child poverty in city, churches across the city came together to run a series of free to attend events of the summer holidays to provide a safe space with fun activities, healthy meals and a welcoming place for parents.

Feast of Fun at Home

During the Covid-19 lockdown, we have worked with churches across the city to provide food hampers, games and crafts to families in need, not only during the summer but throughout lockdown.

Over July and August this year we have been working with 19 churches to provide over 250 food parcels to families each week.

For information about foodbank's during the pandemic, the Trussell Trust have collated key information including how to get support here.

A huge thank you to those who have supported us through our 2020 project: we couldn't do it without you!

How It Started - Hope For Summer

Starting in 2017 in the St Budeaux community, volunteers from the Baptist, Methodist, St Budeaux Parish and St Boniface church worked together to share time and resources where over 550 children and families took part in the first summer events.

The following year 26 events involving 13 different churches across the city were held and provided over 2000 meals for families and children.

For 2019 the events were renamed ‘Feast of Fun’ as a way of incorporating all school holidays, focus on the community and social aspect of the events not just the provision of food. All of the events were free to attend and open to all, not just those who receive free school meals.

Transforming Plymouth Together are supported churches from across the city, from a range of different denominations and sizes to host even more events and provide food and fun to more children and families in need.

For the 2019 events, we received funding from National Lottery Community Fund, North Yard Trust, Virginia House Trust, Bellefonte Trust and local Councillors which meant the capability to support more groups wanting to put on Feast of Fun events.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for a brilliant summer of families, food and fun!

For our full report of the events, follow the link here.

See our video below to find out more about the summer events.