Pizza-making kits donated to Sheffield kids by supermarket giant to combat half-term hunger

Over the school holidays, supermarket giant, Morrisons, has been donating pizza-making kits to local schools, food banks and community groups that help provide food for vulnerable and low-income families.

The hunger-busting scheme has seen Morrisons give away 60,000 pizza kits across the country - with each store being given 150 boxes to hand out in their local community.

Each kit includes ready to roll pizza dough for the base, tomato sauce, grated cheese and either pepperoni and ham or peppers and sweetcorn as a vegetarian option.

The box also includes a leaflet explaining how to make the pizza so that families can make the product as a fun activity.

Lucy Gibson, who works as a community champion at the Morrisons store in Meadowhead, Sheffield, decided to give some of her boxes to the Lowedges Community Centre that also does work during the school holidays to make sure no child goes hungry.

Zoe Colton, who works at the centre, helps provide packed lunches for local children along with activity packs and recipe packs for the families to make at home.

Lucy Gibson said: “I’ve lived in this local area all my life, we all come upon hard times and I know a lot of families that will really benefit from this kind of thing, it’s a nice thing to do and a nice thing to be involved with.

“I think it just brings everybody together, even though we’re not under normal circumstances.

“People come, they can get all of their stuff, and it just sets a good community feel that everyone is here to help each other and nobody is judged, they don’t have to fit certain criteria.

“If people are struggling, they are welcome to come along and take some things home.”

Morrisons also offers customers the option to buy their own ‘Pick Up Packs’, which are also distributed to local food banks, schools and community groups.

The packs cost between £1 and £5, and contain a nutritionally balanced mix of food products as well as other essentials that have been requested by the local community groups 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 in a dedicated donation area, ready to be passed on to the local food banks and community groups.

Lucy said: “I sort all that food out every week and it gets split between food banks, schools, vulnerable families, and for children in the school holidays.

“It goes to anybody that needs it or anyone that I notice in the community through Facebook who might be having a tough time.

“If they’ve got a child in hospital or numerous other things, I’ll just take them a little hamper along to let them know that we’re thinking about them.”