Coventry Rugby Club have teamed up with Charter Savings Bank (part of the OSB Group) to offer support to local communities throughout the school holidays. The Project:500 scheme provides an opportunity for Coventry children to attend a fun packed programme which includes multi-sport activities as well as substantial meals, snacks, drinks, and a food hamper to take home, all in a bid to help combat hunger.
Children who normally access benefits-related free school meals during term time, are able to attend the Project:500 camps every school holiday. This vital support line for local families reaching as far as postcode area CV8, has been made possible through the sponsorship provided by Charter Savings Bank. During the school summer holidays, the coaches have put on activities relating to the Commonwealth Games and enabled the children to see what has been happening on their doorstep during this exciting period for Birmingham and surrounding areas like Coventry.
14% of Coventry’s neighbourhoods are amongst the top 10% most deprived in England* and school holidays can be very stressful and challenging for many parents living on or below the breadline. Coventry Rugby Club are at the heart of these local communities and are only too aware of the struggle that people are facing as well as the real impact this has on children across the city.
Richard Meacham, Community Outreach Manager at Coventry Rugby said, “The Club has been providing community support since 2019 and Project:500 has become such a life-line to some families. We’ve felt so proud that the Commonwealth Games have been held across this region and it has helped us to instil into the young people accessing this project that they can do whatever they want in life and that there should be no barriers to where they want to go.”
During 2020/2021, 2.5 million emergency food parcels were given out across the UK** and today families are still feeling the repercussions of the pandemic with the added impact of the cost of living crisis too. No child should go hungry and we really wanted to play our part in helping local families that are struggling to ease some of the pressures they are facing.
Paul Whitlock, Group Managing Director of Savings at OSB Group said, “Becoming aware of the situations that so many families are finding themselves in is nothing short of shocking but its initiatives such as Project:500 which really make such a difference in local communities.
Everyone here at Charter Savings Bank feels very strongly about this initiative and supports Coventry Rugby with their amazing community outreach work. It’s very humbling that through our partnership we’re able to provide food hampers to children and their families to help see them through some extremely difficult times”.