We believe no child in our county should be hungry

One of the key challenges for low-income families with dependent children is the cost of feeding children during the school holidays. Whilst many children from low-income families are eligible for free school meals during term-time (schools receive funding called Pupil Premium), during holiday periods this vital provision is not available. This can cause severe food issues as extra money must be found during these times.

FiSH (Food in School Holidays) works to relieve this issue during school holidays, especially in the summer holidays, through the allocation of food vouchers to children who qualify for free school meals [FSM], which they exchange for food suitable for children in local stores. Good relationships between churches, schools, shops and the community are key to its success.

In 2003 the vision for the project was given to a local Anglican vicar Rev Tony Kerswell, at All Saints Church, Monks Road who in turn shared it with local church leaders. The project which arose from this was called MASH (Monks Abbey School Holidays) Food Voucher project which. Due to its success MASH has been taken up by other churches covering even more schools in the Lincoln and district and is now known as the FiSH (Food in School Holidays) Voucher project.