Tesco to provide breakfast magic to hungry children

18-Sep-2014 - Last updated on 18-Mar-2016 at 07:23 GMT

And for my next trick: Tesco will take a leaf out of Paul Daniels' book and provide some breakfast magic

Tesco will provide 40,000 boxes of own-brand cereal to deprived children to prevent them going to school hungry, as part of the Magic Breakfast charity campaign.

Thousands of children will benefit from the partnership between Tesco and the breakfast club charity.

Carmel McConnell, ceo of Magic Breakfast, said the charity was set up out of love and concern for children and a belief in their potential, given the right start to the day.

Hungry child cannot concentrate

“A hungry child cannot concentrate,” she said. “This new Tesco donation of cereals will save the charity thousands of pounds this year, money we can use to extend to new schools that need help to reach hungry school children.

“It seems wrong to us for any child to miss out on the most important lessons of the school day simply through lack of a good breakfast.”

Magic Breakfast provides free food to more than 8,500 school children in more than 250 primary schools every day, she added.
Having a nutritious breakfast helps children learn and sets them up for leading a healthier life, the charity claimed.

Currently 32% of children in the UK regularly miss breakfast and, as a result, their health and education can suffer, Magic Breakfast added.

As well as helping to make sure children get enough food to do well at school, Magic Breakfast promotes a diet that is lower in sugar, saturated fats and salt. The charity targets schools in deprived areas where over 35% of the children are eligible for Free School Meals.

Greg Sage, community director for Tesco, said the retailer was “incredibly excited” to work with Magic Breakfast to help ensure children don’t start school on an empty stomach.

‘Promote healthy diet’

“Magic Breakfast also does fantastic work to promote a healthy diet to children, something we’re committed to at Tesco,” he added. “We’re going to work together with Magic Breakfast to make a real and positive difference to children’s lives.”
Boxes of own-label cereal on sale at Tesco stores will also feature information about the charity and how people can donate.

Last year, Tesco announced a commitment to help people live healthier lives.

This new partnership is part of the work Tesco is doing to meet that commitment, alongside The Tesco Eat Happy Project, which so far has taught over 300,000 children about the food they eat.

The retailer has also sponsored Race for Life and has announced it would remove sweets from all Tesco checkouts in January 2015.

To find out more about The Tesco Eat Happy Project, click here.