W
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HOSPITALITY WORLD GETS BEHIND
THE HIVE’S BID TO TACKLE CHILD HUNGER
Restaurants and eateries across Wirral are being invited to help The Hive
address child hunger in the borough by taking part in a new campaign
launched by the Youth Zone, in partnership with CPL Training Group
- the leading provider of licensed retail and hospitality training in the
UK.
The Never Bee Hungry campaign is the latest fundraising initiative to
come out of The Hive, a state-of-the-art, Birkenhead-based youth facility
that recently played host to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke
and Duchess of Sussex.
The Hive is asking venues to offer their customers the opportunity to add
a voluntary £1 donation to their bills, which will go directly to support the
Youth Zone in providing young people in need with ‘food for today and
skills for life’ to help alleviate the poverty cycle. According to recent figures
from the Wirral Intelligence Service one child in two lives in poverty in
Wirral’s most disadvantaged areas, with over ten times as many children
going hungry in the most deprived ward of Wirral compared to the most
affluent.
Using its influence as the leading provider of licensed retail and hospitality
training in the UK, Merseyside-based CPL Training Group will champion
the campaign, on behalf of The Hive, with a broad network of restaurants
and eateries. The Hive will provide regular social media updates to
announce when restaurants come on board.
Last year The Hive served over 35,000 hot meals to its young members,
including 5,000 free meals to young people who would otherwise have
been at risk from ‘holiday hunger’ during the school summer break. The
Youth Zone cafeteria serves food to hundreds of young people every day,
at a subsidised cost of just £1 per meal. For the last two years, The Hive
has also hosted and provided volunteers for the Neo Community Café
Christmas hamper operation, which produces thousands of food parcels
and distributes them to struggling families across Wirral at Christmas time.
Adam Mellor, Chief Executive at The Hive said, “No child should go
hungry or have their future pre-determined by where they are born, this is
something we firmly believe in at The Hive. But, every-day, we see examples
of young people who, simply as a result of their circumstances, have had to
go hungry in order that their families can get by. We see families trapped
in a spiral of poverty and hunger that can persist for generations – and we
want to do something about it; not only to help feed young people in need
now but to equip them with the skills they need to break the cycle and
escape future poverty.
“At The Hive we work with schools to keep young people in education
through our Inspiring Futures programme and equip them with the
confidence and skills they need to secure employment, through our Get
a Job course, which has a near 80% success rate. Funds raised through
the Never Bee Hungry campaign will help us to keep delivering these
programmes, addressing the root causes of child hunger and poverty. We
are confident that Wirral’s restaurateurs will give their full backing to our
campaign and, along with their customers, will help us to make a difference
to young people in need on their doorstep.”
Already, the highly-anticipated Thyme bistro in Oxton Village has signed
up to support Never Bee Hungry. Thyme is owned by Cathy Frost, a patron
of The Hive and Chief Executive of Liverpool’s award-winning Panoramic
34 restaurant. Cathy said, “This is a fantastic opportunity to get behind
a tremendous cause, right on our doorstep. We’ve been involved with
similar schemes in the past and have been thrilled by the generosity of our
customers. We think what The Hive is striving to achieve with Never Bee
Hungry will really resonate with the people who visit Thyme and we’re
proud to be playing a part.”
Restaurants signing up to the initiative will be provided with discreet table
cards, explaining to the customer that a voluntary £1 can be added to their
bill at the end of the meal, and that every penny donated will be used to
help vulnerable young people.
By way of a thank-you for their involvement, The Hive will offer
participating venues the chance for their staff to enjoy an exclusive team-
building experience of their choice at its facility – which could involve
anything from an afternoon on the climbing wall with The Hive’s expert
trainers, to a pampering session in its dedicated salon or a music recording
experience in its fully equipped studio.
Venues interested in learning more about Never Bee Hungry and how
they can get involved should contact The Hive’s Head of Fundraising
Tom Woolley via [email protected].
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