The King’s Church of England Primary Academy, on Holden Crescent, Newark, celebrates one year of helping families with its food and hygiene hub

A school community hub is celebrating one year of helping its families to thrive.

The King’s Church of England Primary Academy marked the first anniversary of the launch of its food and hygiene hub this week.

Through the initiative, the school, on Holden Crescent, aimed to offer support at a time when the cost of living crisis and inflation was hitting families hard.

“It is really important to us that the children are eating properly,“ said Claire Spindley, of the school’s PTA.

“We had one lady who turned up because she had nothing to feed her kids that night, and that’s who we are here for.

“We don’t means test, people can come once a week and take what they need.”

Two years ago the school began offering families a helping hand, by collecting food which they would then distribute during half term breaks and school holidays, but it quickly became difficult to manage with “tins of food filling all the spare cupboards”, Claire explained.

Then in October of last year, they received a donation of a 20-foot-long container from Saint-Gobain Formula, which operates the nearby Bantycock gypsum quarry and Jericho Works, to store donations.

Now, with a dedicated space, the King’s Community Hub was able to start opening weekly for those who needed it, on Thursday mornings after school drop off time.

Once a month, the hub also receives a delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables to go alongside long-life shelf food, hygiene, and household products.

Claire estimated that between 10 and 25 families use the hub on a regular basis, but it varies from week to week, and that during the school holiday collections roughly 40 families made use of the service.

“We hope that in the future we will be able to open more than once a week, but we need more stuff,” said Claire.

“We rely entirely on donations, so if anyone would like to sponsor us please do get in touch — whether it’s a monetary donation or food.

“This wouldn’t be possible without all of the support.”

Businesses and organisations in and around Newark to offer their support include; Christ Church Newark, Saint-Gobain Formula, British Sugar, Bakkavor, NSK, Greenzone, and the major supermarkets including Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Asda.