BELFAST Charitable Society has released over £100,000 to post primary schools in the most deprived areas of the North to help with the additional costs faced in feeding their pupils.
Amongst the schools to receive funding are St Colm's High School in Dunmurry, All Saints College, St Louise's Comprehensive and Coláiste Feirste in West Belfast.
In North Belfast, Mercy College, Blessed Trinity College, Hazelwood Integrated College, Girls Model and Belfast Boys Model will also receive funding.
The Society, with partners The James Kane Foundation and Hunter Smyth Fund, will contribute to the Mary Ann McCracken Foundation Bursary Programme.
The bursaries will be targeted at 16+-year-olds who face financial barriers which may prevent them from continuing to AS/A-Level, further or higher education, employment or apprenticeship.
David Watters, Chair of the Belfast Charitable Society explained: “There is no doubt that the cost-of-living crisis will mean more and more children will be growing up in poverty in Northern Ireland.
"The evidence of this is already being seen in schools, as increasingly children are arriving hungry and with inadequate shoes or winter coats for the cold, wet months ahead.
“Belfast Charitable Society has been addressing poverty for over 270 years and knows all too well the detrimental and long-term impacts poverty has on children. Young people need help, and they need it now, therefore we are increasing our efforts to do what we can and would encourage others to do the same. This is about taking responsibility and direct action at a time of real need.
"It is a sad indictment that the need today is just as great as it was 270 years ago when the Belfast Charitable Society was established.
"We will now, as we did then, continue to respond quickly to the needs of those living in poverty and do all we can to address disadvantage in Belfast and across Northern Ireland. These new grants are part of this ongoing work, helping to support hundreds of the most vulnerable children in our society today."
