Northwich business owner pledges to provide 225 meal to kids

Clare Niven, who together with mum Sheila Brooks and sister Nicola Garside, own White Ribbon Boutique, said it was 'heartbreaking' to think of children going hungry and felt compelled to act.

Last week, MP's voted against a Labour motion to extend free school meals over school holidays until Easter 2021, the bid being the brainchild of Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, who had urged politicians to 'unite' to protect the most vulnerable children.

With stores in Northwich, Nantwich and and Sandbach, White Ribbon Boutique have agreed to pay for 75 meals a day from three take away restaurants in Northwich, Sandbach and Winsford, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this coming week.

Clare said: "When this happened (the decision by MP's) it was just heartbreaking.

"We stand together with a Marcus Rashford and want to do our bit.

"Being a clothing business, we can't obviously make sandwiches on the premises or anything and I didn't want people having to come to our premises to ask for a packed lunch.

"I wanted to make it as easy for people as possible, without them feeling any kind of embarrassment.

"There's lots of support from councils for families in crisis situations, but there's actually lots of families on low incomes who do get a free meal that would appreciate this as well."

The kind gesture by Clare and her family business, will start on Monday at the Top of the Hill Chippy in Sandbach, before moving on to Winsford Fish and Chips on Tuesday and the Seafarer in Northwich on Wednesday. The offer will extend to the following day if not all 75 meals are taken.

Clare added: "Previously we've done charity events, including for the Joshua Tree in Northwich.

"We do a big fashion show every year in Northwich, but obviously we haven't been able to do any of these things this year.

"Last year year we gave coats to the homeless.

"Businesses haven't been able to trade for months and months and now they're in a position where they feel they need to step up and support their communities.

"We're more than happy to do that because we feel as a community we've been supported by people who have been coming in through our doors and spending their money, which has allowed us to keep all our jobs going."

Clare went on to say how the decision by the government was 'bad publicity' and was one people are likely to remember for a long time.

She added: "It's difficult because I can understand on one hand how they think that the responsibility lies within a different budget, but that's a business decision, whereas this is an ethical one.

"The situation we've found ourselves in this year has been just horrendous for so many people that they should have just taken the hit on it this time.

"It's such bad publicity, especially when your spending so much money on things that aren't working.

"It could have such a big impact for so many families who don't get the right funding, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth and I think that will be remembered for a long time."

Clare hopes if anything good can come from the situation, it is that people have came together and shown a sense of community spirit.

She said: "I just hope things like this can continue

"Sometimes we go through phases where we're just outraged with stuff, and that's happened a lot this year, so our attitude now is to just kill things with kindness.

"A nice positive attitude spreads much better negative, keyboard warrior type attitude and I just hope it continues.

"Whatever the reason that a child might be hungry, it's not for me or anyone else to judge, it's just for us as a community to make sure that child isn't hungry any longer.

The meals on offer in each of the take aways will be a children's meal, such as sausage and chips, with families asked to simply call into one of the businesses and request a school meal.

Clare's brother Vincent has offered to double the number of meals being offered to 450, if the demand from families is sufficient over the next couple of days.