Yorkshire Cricket and Morrisons are lending a hand in the fight to end holiday hunger by donating thousands of schools meals over February half-term.
The Yorkshire Cricket Foundation – the official charity arm of Yorkshire County Cricket Club – will team up with Morrisons to support young families who are most at risk of experiencing holiday hunger in West Yorkshire by providing nutritious free meals and fun cricket coaching sessions.
The innovative Crick-EAT scheme will run across three venues in Bradford with young people receiving meals and hours of engaging and fun cricket coaching from professionally trained coaches from Monday 21 – Friday 25 February.
The venues are BEAP Community Partnership, Grange Interlink and Karmand Community Centre.
Yorkshire supporters of Crick-EAT, who will help deliver meals first-hand include Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) players Dominic Bess, Dominic Leech, James Wharton, Harry Sullivan and George Sullivan, Matthew Revis and George Hill.
Beth Langston, a Northern Diamonds Cricket player, who helped during half-term holidays last year, will also be returning to lend a hand.
The Crick-EAT partnership with Morrisons previously helped deliver more than 14,000 meals and over 800 hours of cricket coaching during school holidays last year.
Langston said: “Having been involved with a number of Crick-Eat sessions last year, I jumped at the opportunity to visit one of the hubs again this year.
“Sadly a large number of people out there can’t look forward to the school holidays due to the pressures of feeding their family.
“The work that the YCF and Morrisons do is so important and I’m really looking forward to playing my part and getting involved with a cricket session.
“Hopefully I can help to inspire a future Northern Diamond or Yorkshire star as well.”
Rebecca Singleton, Customer & Community Director at Morrisons said: “We’re committed to helping young people in West Yorkshire make the most of their school holidays. I’m proud of all of our community champions, who will be back delivering nutritious refreshments, supporting this very important initiative.”
The February scheme comes after the Crick-EAT partnership with Morrisons helped deliver more than 14,000 meals and over 800 hours of cricket coaching during school holidays last year.
Beth Cook, the Health & Wellbeing Manager for YCF, said: “We’re pleased to be able to continue to support families through the Crick-EAT scheme, alongside Morrisons.
“Increases in energy prices and the aftermath of the pandemic has left many families in a situation where they need further support.
“Although we can’t tackle all of these issues head on, we can relieve some of the stress around food insecurity and availability by delivering Crick-EAT over the school holiday.”
High profile Yorkshire supporters of Crick-EAT, who have helped deliver meals first-hand since the programme launched, include Bradford-born Adil Rashid, a Yorkshire County Cricket Club player and England cricketer.
While Leeds mayor Coun Asghar Khan, Bradford East’s MP Iran Hussain, Craig Whittaker, MP for Calder Valley and Leeds North West MP Alex Sobel have also helped out.
Crick-EAT 2022 February half-term
BEAP Community Partnership
31 Cornwall Road, BD8 7JN
Monday 21 – Thursday 24 February
10:30am – 12:30pm
Grange Interlink
Summerville Road, BD7 1PX
Wednesday 23 – Thursday 24 February
10am – 12pm and 12pm – 2pm
Friday 25 February
10am – 12pm
Karmand Community Centre
Barkerend Road, BD3 9EP
Monday 21 – Friday 25 February
12pm – 2pm
If you would like further information on Crick-EAT please contact Beth Cook, the Health & Wellbeing Manager for the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, on [email protected].
