A thousand of the most vulnerable school children and their families in Somerset will receive free weekly food parcels from independent co-educational boarding school, Millfield, in Street.
While the government has announced it is launching a national voucher scheme, Millfield is working with Street Parish, Mendip District and County Councils in Somerset, as well as independent food supplier Chartwells, to help ensure Somerset children eligible for free school meals and their families will continue to have access to healthy, fresh food during school closures due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The hampers, which are worth almost double the government’s £15 food vouchers, include enough fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, pasta, eggs, cheese, meat and canned goods for lunch and dinner for an entire family, as well as recipe ideas created by Millfield staff. Over £16,000 has been raised from parents and staff members from the school, as well as donations from Street’s Home Bargains branch and local Street grant-making charity, The NineSquare Trust.
The funding means the service will be able to run for at least the next two months, with capacity to extend to September 2020.
Mendip District Councillor Liz Leyshon says, “The Community Support Group in Street has been very fortunate in having Millfield School as one of our partner organisations during the Covid-19 crisis. With all of Street and surrounding villages to cover for deliveries, the generosity and community spirit of the Headmaster and staff has made a huge difference to our ability to offer essential goods like medicines and food to residents who have been unable to go out. In all my years of being educated, working and living in Street I have never seen Millfield School so involved with the local community and I look forward to finding ways to continue our work together once life, and school, return to normal.”
Councillor Claire Axten, Co-Chair of Governors of one of the schools and Vice Chair of Street Parish Council, says, "It has been amazing to work with Millfield School in the enormous task of providing food and support for vulnerable families. The generosity of the leadership and staff at Millfield, both with the resources and their time, is truly inspiring. Nothing appears to be too much trouble for them and when new families are identified as needing help, this is very quickly actioned, usually the same day. What shines through is the care and concern for the families and children. Having worked in education in Street for thirty years it is wonderful to see Millfield school working alongside the community in such a proactive and positive way.”
Millfield Headmaster Gavin Horgan says,“Though we welcome the government’s support with food vouchers, here at Millfield we believed that more could be done to support local families, particularly those from rural areas. Children, and their mums and dads, need their focus now more than ever, and the last thing they need is to be working on an empty stomach. These food parcels will give children across central Somerset and beyond the fuel they need to continue their education into the summer.”
For further information please contact Millfield Publicity on 01458 444564, or email [email protected]
Notes to editors:
Millfield School is working with the local District and Parish Council in Street, Somerset, as well as The Salvation Army and local support centres on a number of initiatives to help the local community during the coronavirus outbreak.
• Millfield has helped to develop several systems for the management and delivery of prescriptions, leaflets, as well as setting up community support links. Read more. Over 1000 prescriptions have now been delivered locally by Millfield staff and volunteers.
• The school’s laser cutters have made over 575 PPE masks for key workers in local care homes, funeral directors and doctors all over the country, including in Somerset, as well as London, Devon and Banbury.
•Over 100 volunteers from the Millfield community have signed up to offer their assistance with the Street Community Support Group, which includes students, staff, parents and former pupils of the school.
• 25 volunteers of students, Old Millfieldians (former students), staff and parents have sewed over 50 pairs of scrubs and laundry bags, which have been sent to a local GP surgery and the entire staff of a care home near Taunton, as well as the rest going into the bank which distributes around the county.
• A Millfield School teacher and student have joined together to create a ‘Listening Archive’ that encapsulates stories from people on lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak all over the world, allowing future audiences to hear history first hand.
• Millfield donated over 110 Easter eggs to local children over the Easter holiday.
• Millfield teacher, former houseparent and Head of Football Terry Akhurst has raised over £3,000 for NHS Charities Together by shaving his head.
• Millfield students have also set up their own support networks, including sending messages from 10 different countries to residents in four local care homes in Bridgwater, Keinton Mandeville, Glastonbury and Butleigh.
Former Millfield pupils are also helping to educate the public and create PPE for vital workers on the front line: OM and general practitioner Sarah Jarvis MBE has over 30 years’ experience in the NHS and has appeared on multiple news outlets including BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 News to offer a heath care professional’s insight into the virus, and OM, pilot and founder of Foldall Face Shields, Edward Chudleigh, has designed and created over 30,000 pieces of personal protective equipment which are now being used by members of the NHS.