Wiltshire teen, 14, taking action against holiday hunger for students

A Wiltshire teenager is taking action to stop children going hungry over the summer holidays.

Schools across the county complete their school year this week, but for some pupils will face hunger over the holidays.

But 14-year-old Buddy Muns from Devizes has set up a scheme to hand out 1,000 packed lunches to help keep his classmates fed.

He told us he was inspired to help out by a friend, who receives free school meals, which made him wonder what happens when school stops and the school meals stop coming.

Buddy's friend explained that he could get some money to go towards food bills, but it was limited and didn't go very far.

"I was thinking of ways I could help so that children who are struggling or need help with their food bills could come to me and get a nutritious lunch," he said.

The scheme has been enormously popular, with businesses such as Bakkavor sponsoring lunches and providing food in the shape of Yum Yums.

It's also seen high street brands such as Sainsburys and Morrisons supply food to be included in the lunches too.

"It's blown up massively," Buddy said, having explained that he'd needed to revise his original goal of 150 lunches per week. "It started off with a goal that was much smaller than it is now because the popularity of it has grown massively and I'm going to be in the marketplace and people can come and visit and get a free lunch."

Buddy will have a stall in the Market Place where children will be able to come and get their free lunch. "Everybody is welcome. We won't be asking any questions on who needs a lunch, but we hope that people are honest and if they need it, they can come."

At the moment, there is sponsorship and stock for 600 lunches, with Buddy telling us it's "really nice" to see how much support people are giving him to help others.

"It shows that people care," he said.

We can help Buddy provide the 1,000 lunches by sponsoring a lunch via his website.