Coventry youth clubs launched to help local people tackle food poverty
A Coventry charity is helping young people in the city take action against the rising cost of living with the launch of weekly support clubs with free hot meals.
Positive Youth Foundation (PYF) has launched its Winter Youth Clubs to help local young people tackle food poverty in their communities thanks to funding from Coventry Building Society.
The sessions, which run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Hillfields Young Peoples Centre, will provide a warm space and hot meal for young people to take home or distribute in their community – reducing the financial pressure on families in the area.
The Winter Youth Clubs are open to all young people aged 13 to 18, and will provide young people with access to a professional tutor, IT equipment, and a range of activities to promote education, community, and good mental wellbeing.
The clubs will be open from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, but food parcels will be available for young people to pick up throughout the winter period, including outside of PYF’s opening hours.
The Winter Youth Clubs have been made possible thanks to support from Coventry Building Society, which was recently named Charity Partner of the Year at PYF’s 10-year anniversary celebrations.
Positive Youth Foundation has been a Strategic Community Partner of Coventry Building Society since April 2021.
Krishan Singh, Director of Operations at PYF, said: “We want to empower young people to support their local community and combat the challenges we all face regarding the increased cost of living, and we are thrilled that we have been able to get this initiative up and running with the support of Coventry Building Society.
“Our Winter Youth Clubs will provide a safe space for young people to keep warm and safe, have a hot meal and feel part of a community, and we will also be signposting other support programmes to ensure we have a lasting and sustainable impact on those we reach.
“One of our main goals is to give young people the tools and awareness to identify these issues as they are unfolding so that they themselves can go on to support vulnerable people in their communities and be part of the solution – including delivering food parcels to help others who may not have access to food banks.”
Anna Cuskin, Corporate Responsibility Manager at Coventry Building Society, said: “We recently announced a £1m donation to support various charities and organisations in our home city to help people keep safe, warm and well during the coming months. PYF’s Winter Youth Clubs initiative is a great example of how these funds are helping to serve our local community during this winter.
“It will mean young people having access to a warm space three evenings each week, with hot meals available, access to a tutor for homework support and food parcels to take home, helping to ease the burden on families.
“We understand the cost-of-living crisis is making lives harder and we hope our donation will help shine a light on the support that’s available locally to people who need it the most.”
