MORE THAN 10,000 meals were served up to hungry West Fife youngsters over the summer as part of Fife Council’s Cafe Inc initiative.

The lunch club offered grub to help support families during the difficult summer months and will now continue for the October break.

In the Dunfermline area, a total of 5,108 meals were provided while in the South and West Fife area, there were 5,065 meals dished up for children, young people and adults.

The scheme began with a successful pilot in the Cowdenbeath area in the Spring and was rolled out across Fife for the summer holidays.

Since then, more than 90,000 meals have been served across the Kingdom, Councillor Judy Hamilton, convener of the community and housing services committee, said: “I am obviously pleased that Cafe Inc was so popular during the summer and so pleased that we have been able to help so many families.

“Cafe Inc provides a place where families can come together for a hot meal or a sandwich in the middle of the day but it also helps reduce isolation in our communities.

“It provides a meeting point for parents to socialise, or for children to meet up with their friends, and is about so much more than just food.

“For some of our families, it’s been an absolute lifeline. School holidays are a pressure on all families for a variety of reasons – Universal Credit, people in work with precarious or zero-hours contracts, the cost of childcare – any number of reasons – and it is an absolute disgrace to think that without Café Inc, there are children who might otherwise not be able to access a hot meal, or meet up with their friends. This is not acceptable for any of our children.

“We have a very strong voluntary sector in Fife and, for many years, they have tackled ‘holiday-hunger’ through a variety of programmes.

"However, the problem has become so great, that as the local council, we decided to step in with a comprehensive programme of lunch clubs, very much supported and in conjunction with the voluntary sector and community volunteers.”

A selection of schools in all seven committee areas of Fife delivered hot school lunches alongside the usual community-based activity, run by local Community Development, Education and voluntary staff.

Families could enjoy a choice of hot lunches and packed lunches, alongside some activity programmes.

Cllr Hamilton added: “We are now looking forward to continuing Cafe Inc during the October school holidays. Cafe Inc is open to all children and their families. It gives children and families a chance to meet up with friends, save a bit of money and enjoy a bite to eat in some good company.

“I’d urge families to come along and enjoy a family lunch with some friendly chat and fun.”