School holidays in particular can be challenging for families who struggle to afford to feed their children, let alone keep them busy with activities and days out.

Coventry Rugby Club are at the heart of their local community and are aware of the very real impact poverty has on children across the city. So, in a groundbreaking initiative, they set up Project:500 in 2019, with Charter Savings Bank as proud sponsor, which uses sport to bring positivity and hope to disadvantaged children across the city.

More than just about feeding children (although that is an important part of it), Project:500 originally aimed to give 500 disadvantaged and disaffected children the chance to learn through sport, although it has since surpassed this number.

The two-day event runs during the school holidays, offering children a chance to play a variety of sports including netball, cricket, hockey and rugby.

During the day the attendees receive education around subjects such as nutrition, exercise and wellness, as well as taking part in sports sessions with members of the community coaching team.

While the activity and coaching element means the children get to go outdoors, improve their health and work with other kids in a team environment, they also went home with full bellies.

On the day, they can choose from a variety of cereals and fruits for breakfast, and have a hot lunch followed by fruit and dessert. Heartbreakingly, some children ask for seconds and even thirds, indicating how little they may have eaten previously.

They also take home a hamper, equal to one week’s worth of fresh food and veg for their whole family, generously donated by fellow club sponsor Koffmann’s with help from Morrisons supermarket.

Louise Halliwell, Group Savings Director at OSB Group, said: “All of us here at Charter Savings Bank care deeply about this project and support Coventry Rugby with their wonderful work in the community. We’re grateful that our partnership means we’re able to provide food hampers to children and their families to help see them through some very tough times.”

“With the current cost of living crisis, access to nutritional food and sports could be limited even further, but initiatives such as Project:500 are a step in the right direction to inspiring children to build a better future and provide them with role models they can look up to.”

Richard Meacham, Community Outreach at Coventry Rugby, said: “Project 500 has become such a lifeline to some families. We’ve felt so proud that it has helped us to instil into the young people accessing this project that they can do whatever they want in life and that there should be no barriers to where they want to go.”