Safe and Sound has completed a second Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) across the city as part of our grassroots work to support children and young people who have been victims of exploitation or who are at risk of becoming exploited.

We supported 56 young people through this programme together with meals and some family activities for a further 10 under-fives and 26 parents supporting those most in need. The support was across the city, but the greatest proportion were in Normanton and Arboretum.

The HAF Easter programme was in addition to our specialist one to one support for children and young people up to the age of 18 to enable them to take back control of their lives. This project was amazing in that we were able to support families with both activities and food having a balance of awareness and support whilst having fun with activities ranging from basketball to drumming and opportunities not previously encountered such as family trips to Derby Theatre and QUAD.

It was challenging due to our bespoke programme rather than having an activity centre or school for the whole programme. It was logistically difficult, but we managed it well. The new partnership with Butler’s Pantry was excellent – using their cooking facilities, their activity room and their kitchen.

We delivered support and workshops across the school holidays and our work included development and support for the whole for family including cooking and healthy eating programmes. Safe and Sound are extremely grateful for Holiday Activity Funding to enable the children, young people and families we support to have the opportunities to take part in activities as part of their journeys recovering from the impact of exploitation. They also benefited from healthy food and opportunities to cook with support from the Butler’s Pantry.