Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Luke Traynor

Pleas from 80 parents in 24 hours as they struggle to provide lunches for their kids

A community group was inundated with pleas for help from 80 parents in just 24 hours about their struggles to provide lunches for their children during the schools shutdown.

Volunteers are predicting "sheer bedlam" over the next few weeks around Everton, one of the most deprived areas of the country.

Support from Everton FC has provided a "lifeline" to people during the coronavirus pandemic, but charities say things are getting "worse by the day."

Staff, players and management at Goodison have been involved in the Blue Family campaign, set up in the first lockdown, which has provided support including food parcels, laptops, help with utility bills and mental health support to more than 27,000 individuals and families.

Shirley Marshall, head of operations at the Liverpool Six Community Centre, one of the organisations helped by Everton In The Community, said people were struggling to cope during a third lockdown.

Everton In The Community has been providing the centre with meals as well as other essentials such as donations of baby clothes.

Kelly McAnally, vice principal at Litherland High School in Liverpool, one of the organisations which has had support from Everton football club who have provided a "lifeline" to people during the coronavirus pandemic, as charities say things are getting "worse by the day". (PA)

Ms Marshall said: "It's getting worse by the day.

"Anything that Everton can get hold of that they know we can use they bring to us and it has just been absolutely amazing."

Ms Marshall said since March the number of people being helped by the centre had doubled, with those in need including people who had been furloughed, were on zero hours contracts and a frontline nurse who had been left unable to work after contracting long Covid.

Find your nearest vaccination centre by using your postcode below:

Everton In The Community chief executive Richard Kenyon said: "We've been a lifeline to some people I think it's fair to say.

"There have been some people that we've helped who literally haven't been able to feed their family, haven't been able to heat their home so we've been able to step up and provide a very important role to a lot of people."

The charity has also been working with its 60 partner schools, including Litherland High School, where they have supplied food parcels, laptops to help with remote learning and offered virtual mentoring sessions to pupils.

Vice principal of the school Kelly McAnally said: "I think it is life-changing to be honest.

"It is a very isolating time for everybody, it is a very difficult time for everybody, especially when we thought we were getting into a little bit of routine and then it changed again.

"It's not a want, it's a need."

Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here

The campaign has involved the whole "Everton family", Mr Kenyon said, with £400,000 raised by supporters whose season tickets were refunded last year and then matched by the club's owner Farhad Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright.

Current and former players have also been getting involved, as well as manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Mr Kenyon said: "The players and ambassadors have been brilliant.

"Our players have been making calls out into the community.

"Carlo has been making calls out into the community.

"I think they've enjoyed doing it as well because they have felt that they've been part of this campaign and part of this very important drive to try and help people who need it most."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.