Rachel Stevens fronts BBC Children In Need campaign combating food insecurity

Rachel Stevens has launched a new BBC Children In Need campaign with supermarket Asda to help combat food insecurity during the school holidays following the cost-of-living crisis.

The Fuelling Potential campaign aims to support more than 100,000 children over the next three years, securing access to nutritious meals.

As part of the launch, BBC Children In Need have released findings from a new census-wide survey which highlights how children and parents are feeling in the lead-up to the summer holidays and about food insecurity.

The survey found a quarter of children are worrying at least once a week about having enough food to eat, while 63% of parents are concerned about putting food on the table.

As part of the campaign, Asda is extending its £1 meals to all children who visit the Asda cafe until the end of the year and half price adult meals from 3pm each day.

S Club 7 singer Stevens, 45, said: “It is so important that children and young people aren’t held back by food insecurity, which is why I’m delighted to be supporting BBC Children in Need and Asda’s Fuelling Potential campaign.

“Providing children with a positive start in life is key to their development and overall wellbeing, and ensuring their basic needs are met with a nutritious meal helps them to thrive.

“I’m calling on families, colleagues, and customers to get behind this campaign and help make a difference to the lives of vulnerable young people in local communities across the UK.”

The money raised through the Fuelling Potential campaign with Asda will go on to support more projects working to combat food insecurity, and forms part of Asda’s broader Better Starts campaign which aims to improve outcomes for five million young people in five years.

BBC Children In Need’s chief executive Simon Antrobus said: “We are enormously grateful to our longstanding partner, Asda, for their continued support and their commitment to making a difference to young lives.

“Over the next three years Fuelling Potential will help us support even more local charities and projects working to combat food insecurity in communities across the UK, helping more children and young people to thrive and be the best they can be.”

BBC Children In Need is currently funding 130 projects worth £6.6 million that support children and young people through food insecurity, it said.