How Rose Vouchers Are Improving Access To Fresh Fruit & Veg Across The UK
June 24, 2019
by Hattie Our Stories We are really proud to be supporting the amazing work Alexandra Rose Charity are doing, improving access to fruit & veg for low-income families via their Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg Project.
Meet Lamratu.
Hopefully, you’ve seen the leaflet in this week’s box, telling you all about one of their mums, Lamratu, and how her life changed when she started receiving their Rose Vouchers. We are partnering with Alexandra Rose because, like them, we have a mission to make sure that everyone has access to healthy veg-packed meals. Unfortunately, for many in the UK right now, it’s a financial struggle to put meals on the table.
Alexandra Rose has been helping families to improve their health and wellbeing since 1912, and in 2014 tuned their focus to improving access to fresh fruit & veg. 23% of the UK’s population live in food insecurity; they don’t know where the money for the next meal is coming from. These are the people we all want to help.
When money is so tight that parents sometimes skip meals to make sure that their children can eat, buying cheap ultra-processed food is sensible; no-one wants a hungry child. But most of these families want better food. This is where the Rose Vouchers come in. Families who live in Rose Voucher Project areas, and have children up to the age of 5 receive vouchers every week that they can redeem at participating local street markets, greengrocers and community food projects.
Lamratu told Alexandra Rose that her boys were sickly before she received the vouchers. They are in much better health now, which she attributes to their more varied and veg-packed diet. “Now I am so happy because my boys are eating broccoli, cauliflower, okra, spinach”. This gives them access to their own choice of fruit and veg, not only receiving surplus that other people don’t want.
Alexandra Rose is a charity, and as such relies on the support of the public. We all want to give our loved ones a wonderful meal, full of goodness and veg that leaves them, well, full!
How you can help:
Through supporting Alexandra Rose Charity, we hope that you too will support them to makes sure that everyone has access to their own choice of fruit and veg. They support 1,500 children every week. Let’s see how many more we can help! Please sign up for their newsletter to keep in touch and make a difference.
