Wolves Foundation Column: Keeping young people busy over the summer

The activities, delivered with the support of the City of Wolverhampton Council, have taken place largely at The Way Youth Zone in the City Centre along with a week apiece at Nishkam Primary School and D’Eyncourt Primary School.

Children aged between five and 11 have been able to enjoy breakfast and lunch along with a varied programme of activities in between.

“Being able to link up with The Way and really make use of their resources has allowed us to really vary our programme over the holidays,” says Ollie Locker, Food Poverty Project Manager with Wolves Foundation.

“For example, the young people have had access to the Climbing Wall, with The Way’s staff leading, as well as the music studio where they can learn new instruments, make beats, record songs and generally just be creative.

“There has also been the chance to do some cooking classes along with the core activities such as football, dodgeball and other indoor group sports to keep everyone engaged across a broad age range.

“We will also be finishing off the summer with a day trip to Kingswood Activity Centre, our first trip away from the regular sessions, offering the chance to take part in different teambuilding activities which we are all looking forward to.”

Aside from the holiday activities the Foundation have also been distributing more food parcels as part of Feed Our Pack, which was set up during the pandemic to help alleviate the impact of food poverty across the city.

A total of 210 food parcels were distributed to seven or eight different schools just before the end of term, with a follow-up parcel then available from Molineux midway through the break.

The partnership with His Church, a charity which aims to find solutions to problems facing people in need, is nearly a year old and continues to go from strength to strength.

In conjunction with Wolves, the Foundation were able to donate 60 boxes of Wolves-related clothing to be passed on by His Church, whilst the delivery of pallets of food to local foodbanks to support the community is continuing.

“As a Foundation, we are continuing to be in regular dialogue with foodbanks to adapt and see if there is anything more sustainable we can do to help the city during these challenging times,” added Ollie.

Fans who wish to support Feed Our Pack can continue to do by donating non-perishable food items to the storage facility at the club’s Fanzone from three hours before a home match to 15 minutes before kick-off.