Club partner commits to regular Foundation donation
Gareth Henderson, Managing Director of Huddersfield Town’s club partner Orchard Group, paid an early morning visit to one of Town Foundation’s newest school breakfast clubs recently to see for himself the difference the charity is making to the lives of young people in the region.
Dalton Junior, Infant and Nursery School has already served up 6,400 ‘Early Kick-Off’ healthy breakfasts since joining the scheme in September and regularly welcomes over 100 children each morning.
The Town Foundation has opened 14 breakfast clubs in the past 12 months and Dalton is one of its biggest. Up to 1,000 Early Kick-Off meals are served each morning and the project recently dished up it 50,000th breakfast. Nutritious food such as fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products and other items rich in protein are on the Early Kick-Off menu.
The scheme was started after research that showed many children were not having breakfast before school and that this was threatening their health and performance.
Orchard is one of a number of local businesses that supports the Early Kick-Off initiative by contributing towards its funding.
“Orchard was one of our first corporate supporters and it was wonderful to welcome Gareth to Dalton, where he saw for himself the impact this project is having on local families,” said Mandy Taylor, the Town Foundation’s Corporate Fundraising Officer.
“Gareth really enjoyed meeting the children and volunteers and getting involved in the activities at the end of the session.”
Gareth added:
“It was incredibly rewarding to see first-hand the difference the Town Foundation is making to people’s lives through its Early Kick-Off breakfast clubs.
“As well as starting the day with a healthy meal, the children are also having lots of fun and interacting with each other. It is an eye opener knowing what level of need is on our own doorstep.”
Gareth urged other local businesses to support the scheme by contributing a regular amount to support the existing breakfast clubs and help fund new ones in the area.
“It only costs a small amount to feed each child and this is a great opportunity for businesses to make a real difference to children in our community. I hope many more will be inspired to get involved and support this fantastic initiative.”
In addition to its breakfast clubs Town Foundation also provides specially designed reading diaries to local schools. A new edition of the colourful and informative diaries is issued every term and there are currently 15,000 children in the community using them regularly to support their learning.
If your business wants to get involved with the Town Foundation please email mandy.taylor@htafc.com, call 01484 484197 or visit www.htafcfoundation.com
