Cambois Primary School hit the road with food bank for local families
A food bank has been set up in a mini-bus at Cambois Primary School in order to help the wider community.
Marianne Allan, Head Teacher at Cambois Primary School identified that, as an area Cambois is very isolated, and has very little local shopping provision. As a result, this caused worry for local families, as there are limited transport links with only one bus service running through the village and there is a lack of access to affordable supermarkets. This posed a problem that the Government issued food vouchers for students eligible for Free School Meals, would not be sufficient for families to get a suitable amount of food locally. There was also a concern that those who were not entitled to Free School Meals, but had suffered from having a reduced income would find themselves struggling. Alongside this there was also an acknowledgement that there are many elderly and vulnerable who are unable to go out and had a lack of support.
The school set up a food bank but found that it was not accessible for many households which were in isolation. As a result the school made the decision to try and feed all their families as best as they could by taking the food bank to the road.
A lot of the donations have come from local businesses and Morrisons who have been sending stock out on a weekly basis, which is all sorted by staff. There has also been help from others in the community who staff have reached out to ask for help. The bus currently goes out three times a week and is operated by volunteers including Marianne’s father and parents of children at the school. The mobile food bank is taking food parcels out to the community, with the volunteers adhering to social distancing guidelines.
It is great to see the school not only caring for those who are a part of the school, but also their wider community, and that despite the challenging times, this initiative has brought the school and their wider local community closer together.