A thousand of the most vulnerable school children and their families in the area will receive free weekly food parcels thanks to a mammoth £16,000 fundraising effort by a number of organisations in Street.

While the government has announced it is launching a national voucher scheme, Millfield School is working with Street parish, Mendip district and Somerset county councils, as well as independent food supplier Chartwells, to help ensure children eligible for free school meals and their families will continue to have access to healthy, fresh food during school closures due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The hampers, which are worth almost double the government's £15 food vouchers, include enough fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, pasta, eggs, cheese, meat and canned goods for lunch and dinner for an entire family, as well as recipe ideas created by Millfield staff.

More than £16,000 has been raised from parents and staff members from the school, as well a sdonations from Street's Home Bargains branch and Street grant-making charity, TheNineSquare Trust.

The funding means the service will be able to run for at least the next two months, with capacity to extend to September.

Local Mendip and Somerset councillor Liz Leyshon said: "The Community Support Group in Street has been very fortunate in having Millfield School as one of our partner organisations during the Covid-19 crisis.

"With all of Street and surrounding villages to cover for deliveries, the generosity and community spirit of the headmaster and staff has made a huge difference to our ability to offer essential goods like medicines and food to residents who have been unable to go out.

"In all my years of being educated, working and living in Street, I have never seen Millfield School so involved with the local community and I look forward to finding ways to continue our work together once life, and school, return to normal."

Millfield headmaster Gavin Horgan said: "Though we welcome the government's support with food vouchers, here at Millfield we believed that more could be done to support local families, particularly those from rural areas.

"Children, and their mums and dads, need their focus now more than ever, and the last thing they need is to be working on an empty stomach.

"These food parcels will give children across central Somerset and beyond the fuel they need to continue their education into the summer."