Plymouth Argyle players donate to free half-term school lunches as political row over free school meals continues
Plymouth Argyle players have donated to efforts to help feed young people during the half-term holiday.
It follows the government comfortably defeating a motion calling for the extension of free meals during the school holidays in England until Easter 2021.
The vote served to galvanise public support for the campaign, however, with local businesses and other organisations coming forward with offers of free meals.
The Argyle Community is packing up to 100 lunches every day this week for families across the city.
Lewis Coombe, from the Argyle Community Trust, said: "It was a massive opportunity for us to further reach out and support the community. We're putting trust in people, so if they say they are entitled to free school meals we will provide that for them."
For more information or to request a lunch pack, e-mail community@pafc.co.uk.
It is estimated that one in three children in Plymouth live in food poverty.
Former primary school teacher Jack Harman, who now runs a cafe, says he has seen first-hand the damaging effects of youngsters going hungry, and could not stand by and do nothing.
"We asked ourselves what kind of cafe we want to be," Jack said.
"Children often don't have someone to advocate for them, so we decided to make that stand. It shows who we really are - we are compassionate people, we are humane people. This is the Britain we really are."
Plymouth City Council has also stepped in to help, offering cash payments to families in need.
A series of senior Tories have warned they could vote against the government if there is fresh Commons division on extending free meals in England during the school holidays.
Labour has warned it will bring the issue back into the House of Commons if the government does not back down before Christmas.
It comes as public support for the campaign spearheaded by footballer Marcus Rashford continues to grow, with one senior Tory saying Number 10 had “misunderstood” the mood of the nation.
In response a Government spokesperson said: "We have provided free school meals when schools were partially closed, increasing welfare support by £9.3bn, and giving councils £63 million for families facing financial difficulties.
Today, October 26th, the Prime Minister also vowed to make sure that no children in the country would go hungry this winter.
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