A COMMUNITY scheme to feed hundreds of struggling families in Dudley is being launched after a ‘makeshift’ effort to hand out 100 packed lunches during half term.

A 'frantic' last-ditch operation was launched by the St Thomas Community Association last week when the government refused to extend the school meal scheme into the half term.

But the Association are worried that their efforts reached only a small number of the 400 families in the area who qualify for free school meals and they have now set their sights on a new project to feed both families, the vulnerable and elderly who are struggling to make ends meet.

They hope to launch it within four to six weeks.

The Association took an urgent decision on the Saturday before half term to provide free packed lunches and volunteers spent the Sunday frantically shopping.

The scheme was promoted on social media but organisers say they were too late to involve schools because they had already closed.

There are more than 600 children and around 400 families in St Thomas’s ward who receive free schools meals, and analysis suggests almost half of young people in St Thomas’s ward are being brought up ‘in conditions of financial hardship.’

Cllr Shaukat Ali said “This was a makeshift effort with a very short turnaround to get the operation going and extend a helping hand.

“No one wants to resort for help unless they are desperately in need. We hope that the Government and Dudley Council will ensure that our children do not go hungry over Christmas.”

  • Sunday soccer sessions attracting around fifty youngsters each week have had to be cancelled.

Cllr Ali said it was disappointing, as they not only gave children exercise, they also helped with mental health in the lockdown.

The free sessions for children aged six upwards were running for two hours at the Sledmere Community Centre, The School Drive.

But the Association have now received Football Association guidance that grassroots soccer has to be suspended.