Youth First Tackle Malnutrition, Inactivity and Isolation during the Summer Holidays where they can stay active, eat and socialise with friends. Activities Included: Football, Basketball, Dance and Archery,

210 Children Engaged

180 Activity Sessions

600 Meals Served

10 Staff

Trained

OVERVIEW

As the 2018 summer holidays draw to a close, Lewisham’s ‘Fit and Fed’ programme

also comes to an end. The Summer programme was lead by ‘Youth First’ - a

‘community benefit society’ that delivers the youth services across the London

Borough of Lewisham. The Fit and Fed programme gave children from

disadvantaged communities the opportunity to engage with a range of sports

activities and a free nutritious meal.

The programme, run in partnership with StreetGames and funded by Sodexho,

provided access for all children and offered a chance for children from age 8-19 with

access to an environment where they can be active, healthy and safe.

In Lewisham, Fit and Fed took place across three sites over 30 days and was able to reach over 200 children across the summer holidays.

FIT

The programme provided 180 sport and physical activity sessions including; table tennis, basketball, volley ball, football, dance, zorbing, horse riding and much more. These opportunities provided children with opportunities to socialise and access organised activities instead of being restricted to their homes and surrounding streets.

FED

FareShare and Chartwells supported the initiative by providing food for the children, ensuring that children from low income families would get a meal and a drink. In total, during August the Lewisham programme contributed 600 meals for the children over the holidays. Many of the young people we engaged would not have had access to regular food and activity throughout the summer, as research indicates that 73% of disadvantaged families struggle to feed children over the summer holidays. As part of the summer programme Muhammad explained the innovative ways that they have managed to introduce food into each of their settings. "Partnerships are at the centre of our food provision and this summer we have secured partnerships with Chartwells, Nandos and FareShare"

FEEDBACK

StreetGames project visit – Keith Sykes (Doorstep Sports Advisor) I spent the day shadowing Muhammad Rahmani, Operations Manager at Youth First as we visited Honor Oak Adventure Playground, Bellingham Gateway Youth Centre, Woodpecker Youth Club and Dumps Adventure Playground. As I entered the each of the sites there was a real buzz, with young people taking part in a vibrant and varied range of activities including playing table tennis, volleyball, football, skipping and much more. At one site I spoke with young people as they created their own smoothies and baked, at another site I was invited by staff to join a BBQ and cooking session. I was humbled to have the opportunity to meet so many youth workers, parents, young people and volunteers throughout the day. I was blown away by the passion, energy and dedication of the staff and volunteers, but more so about how real the issue of holiday hunger is in Lewisham and how important it is to include food in our provision for young people in poverty. Together we can tackle this crisis and keep children and young people Fit and Fed

Staff – “'At Youth First we have identified that a large number of our young people do not

have a healthy and balanced meal during the week. Our dedicated staff alongside

running healthy eating workshop, have started to provide hot food and healthy

snacks. We also committed to becoming 'Sugar Smart' and we are now more

conscious of what we offer…. This year we partnered with Street Games, Chartwells,

Fareshare and LBL Public Health to provide sport and food for young people that

attend our summer schemes. The programme was well received by the community”

(Muhammad, Operations Manager at Youth First)

Parent - “We have had a really good summer with fit and fed the activities were really exciting”

Young - “The Zorbing session was my favourite, it was fun and tiring”

Person

SUSTAINABILITY & TRAINING 10 staff and volunteers from across the three Youth First sites involved in this programme have been funded to complete their Level 2 in Food Hygiene. The project has also created opportunities for Youth First to broker new food partnerships with organisations such as Nados, Chartwell and Fareshare.

PHOTOS