A student from the University of Leeds has been overwhelmed by the generosity of the city after she took action to help feed vulnerable children over the half-term holidays.
Eleanor McGough, 22, set up stall to collect food donations outside the Library pub, in Headingley, to collect food for the Trussell Trust, who work to eradicate hunger and poverty in the UK.
The food drive was in response to 222 MPs voting against extending free school meals into the holidays - including three MPs from Leeds: Stuart Andrew, Andrea Jenkyns and Alec Shelbrooke.
Eleanor, who is studying a Masters in Political Communication, said Friday's event saw them receive a huge amount of items urgently needed by foodbanks, including tinned foods, bags of pasta and toilet roll.
Eleanor, helped by her boyfriend Gustaf Malone and housemate Benjamin Tyerman, praised the community for stepping up to help.
She said: “After the government vote, we just thought let’s do something about this. Leeds is already an area with quite a lot of poverty.
“The response from the community has been fantastic.
“We didn’t expect to get this many donations. At the start of the day, we were hoping for a couple of bags for life. We thought people would stop with a few tins but people have been turning up with loads, it’s amazing.
“Students with cars have been stopping by with food shops and someone from PWC came down with a food shop too.
“The community has come to help but it shouldn’t be left to working people. The government should be doing this, its despicable that they voted down the bill.
“You wouldn’t want people in your community starving.
“I donated some stuff as well but I’m in unstable work at the moment, I’m working zero hours. Some of my colleagues have come to drop off food, they used their lunch break to get food.
“I really encourage other people to get involved now that it’s, unfortunately, necessary since people aren’t getting enough government support.”
The Labour Party has claimed there are 25,488 youngsters in Leeds who could go without meals over October half term.
Cllr Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City's Council's executive member for Learning, Skills and Employment, said: "Children in Leeds have had a really rough year – this incompetent government should be supporting them, not leaving them to go hungry.
"We can all feel how much the new lockdown restriction are affecting our lives – and that’s making it much harder for families to earn a living and put food on the table. It is utterly ridiculous that at a time when we should all be pulling together this government is leaving local parents to fend for themselves.
"Ministers have been too slow at every stage during this crisis. So instead of waiting to the last minute they should act now and keep free school meals going through half-term – they should stand by local families just like we have stood with the rest of the country in fighting this terrible disease."
