The Penplas Family Centre in Swansea has been providing a Breakfast Club for the summer holidays thanks to £3500 funding supplied by the Gwalia Trust. The Breakfast Club was created to help local families who were finding it tough financially to feed their children during the school holidays.
What is the Gwalia Trust?
Part of Pobl Group, the Gwalia Trust charitable trust local to Swansea which provides grants to the most vulnerable people of south Wales. Its focus is on those in need or those facing homelessness, those with physical or mental disabilities or people in residential or nursing care. The Trust works with Pobl’s Care and Support services as well as with local communities and other organisations.
The Benefits of Breakfast
Statistics consistently show that eating a good breakfast on a daily basis can help improve concentration, leading to better academic performance, improved physical energy levels and better general health through a balanced diet.
Recent research conducted at Cardiff University identified that children were twice as likely to perform above average if they had a good quality, nutritional breakfast.
It’s for these reasons that the Gwalia Trust has been supporting the Breakfast Club since 2013 when Leanne Evans, Penplas Family Centre Manager recognised the need for a holiday breakfast club for families living in the Penplas area of Swansea.
The club has been extremely successful, going from strength to strength each year and gaining many grateful customers.
Leanne said:
“We’re thrilled and very thankful that The Gwalia Trust is supporting our family breakfast sessions for the fourth year running. Without their help we wouldn’t be able to provide this vital service to our local community.
“Over the last four years we’ve served 2647 breakfasts to people living in the Blaenymaes, Portmead and Penplas areas of Swansea. Breakfast Club is informal so people come and go as they please, many of our young people drop in for breakfast and we have two brothers who volunteer at every club! They are our master chefs!
Many of the families that have attended the breakfast club have then gone on to attend further sessions the Family Centre provides, or we have been able to signpost them on to services that better suit their needs.”
One young Breakfast Club member simply commented:
“Breakfast club ROCKS!”
While another young volunteer highlighted how it has supported a love of cooking:
“I help in breakfast club, I love learning how to cook and helping the little ones. I also help with the activity of the day.”
One member of the breakfast club said:
“I have 10 children, 8 are in school and when the holidays come I have to feed 12 of us breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. My money simply doesn’t go around so my hubby and I would go without if there was nothing left. Now we go to Breakfast Club, we’re all able to eat and there’s always lots on offer. The staff have helped me get food parcels when I’ve had money troubles and nothing is ever too much for them. Thank you girls – breakfast club is great!”
Now that the kids are heading back to school, the Gwalia Trust will look to ensure that the Breakfast Club is supported during the next mid-term break. For more information about the Gwalia Trust or to apply for funding, visit gwaliatrust.org.
