Corby store helping with holiday hunger by offering free £15 voucher for children every week during summer

Corby families eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) vouchers or in receipt of welfare support can receive a £15 voucher per child every week during the summer holidays when redeemed at Corby's Company Shop on the Earlstrees industrial estate.

In an effort to ensure that no child goes hungry during the school holidays, the latest initiative from Company Shop Group will help thousands of local families to access essential food, including fresh fruit and vegetables, which are on average 53 per cent off the normal retail price.

This extended provision follows a £900,000 donation from long-standing industry partner Nestle.

To utilise the donation and ensure the group is reaching as many families as possible, it has chosen to match-fund the Government’s FSM voucher scheme.

This means that for every £15 provided by the Government, the Group is providing an additional £15 to help family budgets stretch even further.

Alongside being open to those eligible for FSM vouchers, Company Shop Group has also extended the offer to any family with children receiving means tested benefits, as well as to families with children aged up to five, which the Government scheme does not currently cover.

Any eligible family can redeem the offer, regardless of whether they are an existing member of the store or not.

All they need to do to collect their voucher is visit the store and provide proof of receipt of means tested benefits or FSM, and then they can shop in store, even if they have not chosen to spend their Government FSM voucher with Company or Community Shop.

For families who have not yet redeemed their vouchers, Company Shop and Community Shop are backdating the vouchers so that families can still benefit from the full £90 available for each child for the whole six-week school holiday period.

This support comes at a critical time, with many families already facing increased hardship due to Covid-19.

This has now been furthered by the onset of the school holidays, where many families struggle to access the provision they need, including food.

Steph McGinty, retail, people and communities director, said: “The school holidays can be a really difficult period for many children and families, so we want to provide as much support as we can to the people of Corby and beyond – whether that’s providing immediate food access or wider support.

“This scheme will enable many families to more than double the amount of food and products that they would typically be able to access, at such a critical time.

"We would really encourage any eligible families to come along and redeem their vouchers, as well as to consider taking up some of the activities in our summer programme.

“With thanks to the incredible support received by Nestle, we are able to reach even more children and families in the local area, as we help to make a difference and change even more lives.”

The group joins Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Asda, M&S Food, Aldi, McColl’s and Iceland as registered providers of the voucher, but is the only retailer to be match-funding the scheme.

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