Yorkshire’s own Champions Community Sport group have won a national award in recognition of their work to provide food and activity for young people during the school holidays.
The club is this years winner of the StreetGames’ Holiday Activities award, which celebrates organisations that go above and beyond in their work to support children and families outside of term time.
2023 was Champion Sport’s third year running Healthy Holidays, their dedicated out of term activity progamme. When the programme was first launched in 2021 it attracted 610 members. The following year, this grew by a massive 55% and had a staggering 950 attendees. In 2023, they smashed their target of 1000 attendees this with a whopping 1198 young people taking part. Getting this many children and young people involved in sport over 16 days, at the most grassroots level imaginable, is phenomenal.
This year, the organisation has linked in with more local companies than ever before to provide a broader range of activities and introduce their members to new experiences, from Bushcraft, to cooking and planting sessions, with free food parcels to bridge the gap when the children weren’t able to attend. They even arranged visits from external football clubs to join them for mini-tournaments.
Mark Lawrie, StreetGames Chief Executive, said:
“For too many young people, school holidays can be a time of hardship, hunger and isolation, as families in underserved communities struggle to fund the added food and childcare costs that the holidays bring.
Organisations like Champions Community Sport play a massive role in supporting their local communities, providing fun, physical activity and nutritious food for children and young people who might otherwise go without during the holidays.”
