SUPERMARKETS, restaurants, cafe’s and councils across the UK are all stepping up to help provide free meals this half term.

The UK government rejected pleas to extends free schools meals over the break, despite campaigning led by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford.

Morrisons is offering 15,000 lunchboxes this half term

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Morrisons is offering 15,000 lunchboxes this half term

But now, Britain’s businesses are plugging the gap and supporting vulnerable families by offering free food.

McDonald’s led the charge by donating funding to provide a million meals to families in need through charity FareShareUK.

Now, Morrisons supermarkets have joined the national effort, donating 15,000 lunchboxes across the the UK.

Morrisons staff will prepare 30 lunch boxes in each of their 498 stores this half-term.

The lunchboxes will be distributed daily to local food banks and schools so they can get them to school children in need. The lunch box includes a freshly made sandwich, a piece of fruit and a Soreen snack pack.

Morrisons is offering customers the option to support the effort by buying ‘Pick Up Packs’, which will be distributed to young people.

The packs’ cost between £1 and £5 and contain a nutritionally balanced mix of food products that have been requested by local food banks and schools according to their needs.

The pre-packed parcels are available at the front of all Morrisons stores and are paid for at the checkout. The pack is then put aside for delivery to those in need.

The Co-op has also pledged to provide free school meal vouchers for more than 5,000 vulnerable children at schools in the Co-op Academies Trust.

The Co-op is also giving its Academy children £20 each over half term to help pay for food.

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The Co-op is also giving its Academy children £20 each over half term to help pay for food.

Each eligible child will get a £20 voucher towards food over the October break.

The Co-op’s CEO Steve Murrells also wrote an open letter urging the government to provide free school meal funding through half term.

The Qoot chain of restaurants is also offering free school meals across its chain of restaurants in London, including by CHLOE and The Lebanese Bakery venues.

Kids can get a free main meal, side and drink before 1pm on presentation of benefits documents.

And the Big Smoke Brewery, which has pubs throughout Surbiton, Kingston, Hammersmith, Weybridge, Chichester and Wokingham is donating 1,000 free meals to families that need them. To order, email [email protected].

Frozen food retailer, Iceland, isn’t doing free school meals, but it is offering £1 bags of vegetables free to parents with a Healthy Start voucher. It also says it will be doing in-store promotions to help parents through half term.

Councils are stepping in and offering vouchers for half term

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Councils are stepping in and offering vouchers for half term

Local councils are also announcing measures to help struggling parents through the half-term break.

For instance, Greater Manchester is giving out over 1,000 vouchers entitling young people to a Co-op meal deal.

Meanwhile, Greenwich is distributing free meals via a mobile kitchen.

Make sure you check your local council websites for details of what is available near you,

Football clubs are also doing their bit to make sure children have access to food this week.

Manchester United football club is distributing 5,000 cooked meals to local school children as part of its partnership with Fairshare.

Luton Town is providing 250 meals per day, Pinchbeck United is offering both a breakfast in the morning and a hot meal in the afternoon and Chatham Town is offering free meals at the club or by delivery.

Hundreds of local business have also promised to give away free meals throughout the next week, with some pledging help in the Christmas holidays too.

To find somewhere near you offering half term meals there is a useful map that shows all the businesses that have announced their plans.

Businesses offering free school meals

HERE’S some of the restaurants and cafes we’ve seen that are offering free school meals this half term.

To find more local places offering free school meals this half term, check this interactive map as well as social media channels including Marcus Rashford’s Twitter feed.

Boris Johnson says ‘we don’t want to see children going hungry this winter’ in hint u-turn on funding to come

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk

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