A CAR rental specialist is helping young people in Reading eat healthily during school breaks.
Select Car Leasing has donated £4,350 over the past two years to support Reading FC Community Trust’s Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) camps.
The Royals’ free week-long programmes take place in the summer, winter and Easter school holidays and offer a ‘safe environment to care, develop and educate the disadvantaged or at-risk young people within Reading and the surrounding areas’.
The initiative is targeted at children aged between 12-16, from low-income families and who are often on free school meals. Participants are put forward for the camps by their school or council.
A significant part of the camps’ appeal is the access young people have to healthy and nutritious food, alongside taking part in activities designed to boost physical and mental well-being.
Select Car Leasing have shown their support for the scheme by contributing to the purchase of food.
Dave Evans, general manager of the Reading FC Community Trust, says the HAF Camps can make a significant difference to the lives of young people.
He said: “The camps allow young people to come and take part in something which they wouldn’t typically be able to do, so it’s great to be able to provide such a service.
“And we don’t just feed the children healthy food at the camps, we also make sure they take part in lots of fun activities, while recognising that not everyone likes football.”
Dave, who is also a coach at the Royals’ academy, added: “When it comes to the food, we often see children on the camps who are slightly wary of what they’re served at the beginning of the week, simply because they’ve never eaten anything like it before, but by the end of the week, they’re wolfing it down.
“Reading FC Community Trust is extremely grateful for the support we’ve received, and continue to receive, from Select Car Leasing. Every penny of the money donated by Select goes to providing food to the children on the camps. And it makes a real difference to the success of the scheme.”
Select donated £1,600 at the end of last year before adding a further £2,750 this month.
Although the majority of the camps are held at the club’s Indoor Dome, located next to the Select Car Leasing Stadium, there are alternative camp centres in the area, particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
According to Dave, these send camps are vital for parents who welcome the opportunity to have free respite care during the summer holidays.
He added: “Parents of SEND children have sent us some lovely letters of thanks, saying they simply can’t find this provision anywhere else in the county. Not only do the parents have respite care, they also know the child is being fed. It’s definitely a provision that’s needed.”
Following pilot schemes in 2018 and 2020, the HAF camps programme officially launched in 2021.
The Community Trust points to research that identifies school holidays as ‘pressure points’ for some families, with parents struggling to afford out-of-school activities for their children. This can sometimes lead to youngsters experiencing social isolation.
To date, 114 participants have accessed 64 hours of physical activity while 1,020 meals have been made available.
The funds supplied by Select come from a scheme whereby for every customer who says they are a Reading FC supporter when they lease a vehicle, the company adds £50 to the cause.
Mark Tongue, Select Car Leasing director, said: “When we learned that Reading FC Community Trust would benefit from financial support in order to run the HAF camps, we jumped at the chance. It was a no-brainer for us.
“As a socially responsible business headquartered in Reading, Select Car Leasing is passionate about supporting local youth initiatives. The HAF Camps scheme is a worthwhile venture indeed, helping countless families negotiate the tricky challenges that often come with school holidays.”
Select, who has been principal partner of Reading FC since June 2021, runs the separate ‘Tickets for Kids’ project, whereby more than 1,000 free tickets are made available each season for youngsters from grassroots football clubs to go and watch the Royals play.
