‘Marcus Rashford’. That was Catherine Williams’ immediate answer to the question: ‘what sparked off the creation of Love Marlborough ‘Kid’s Meals”?
As well as performing on the pitch and knocking in goals for Man Utd and England, Marcus has done something quite different and very unusual. Especially so when compared to many other of his contemporary headlining Premier League and International footballers. His campaign, which even caused a Government ‘U Turn’ was about making sure children eligible for free school meals were fed regularly when schools were shut during lockdown. It raised an enormous amount and made the public aware that the issue of meals and children was both important and could be addressed.
So Love Marlborough ‘Kid’s Meals’ came into being. An idea that had been there, for some while, but inspired and sparked into life by Marcus Rashford and his successful campaign.
Since making it all happen in the summer of ’21 Catherine, Kymee Cleasby and their team of volunteers have cooked, created and delivered hot family meals to at least fifty families in the Marlborough and surrounding area.
Now, many families in the area will receive – delivered to the door – a complete meal for the whole family. Usually a roast chicken dinner, with roast spuds, carrots, peas – what a roast meal should be – and this arrives on a Friday late afternoon in time for that evening’s dinner.
‘Kid’s Meals’ works out of Kymee’s SBC (formerly Sue Brady Catering) kitchens up on the Business Park behind the BP Petrol Station. At this time on a Friday the SBC work for the week has been done so this enables the Kid’s Meals team to step in and use the well equipped and very professional kitchen to create these roasts for Marlborough’s kids in need and their families.
“We offer to do this for 3 months, which usually helps families through a tricky time. We adjust this if needed for different circumstances. Families have struggled for many reasons, with parental health difficulties and even small unexpected changes in their circumstances having a large impact on a finely balanced budget.” explained Catherine.
“We sometimes add an extra item for example, a small Easter book or Mother’s Day gift. For Christmas 2021, the Rotary Club donated funds for a slow cooker and budget-friendly recipe book; we are mindful that using fuel to cook will increasingly become a strain for some households and this is a low energy approach which families have already found helpful. We anticipate that the numbers of families in need is going to increase with the rise in fuel prices.
“Tesco and Waitrose have also been particularly helpful and generous in providing hampers of food, sponsoring cookery workshops, collecting tokens and allowing us to collect for donations in-store.” she added.
‘Kid’s Meals’ are there, helping those in need in the Marlborough area community through the efforts of the team and those who help fund through regular donations. It’s a charity, regular funding is vital as that’s how they are able to operate.
Catherine and Kymee are always in need of help. As well as funds, they need us – volunteers – to help create the meals at the SBC kitchens or to deliver to the doors, braving the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic of ‘Downtown Marlborough’, getting the meals out to the kids and their families in time for the Friday evening meal.
To find out more – about volunteering, donating, or even if you are in need and could be helped by Kid’s Meals, then either click here to visit their website, or use the QR Code below, accessed by camera or smartphone to get straight to how you can donate to Kids Meals:
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