A CONVENIENCE store giant has donated £500 to a crisis support centre in an effort to eradicate "play piece poverty" in Glasgow. 

Bosses at One-O-One handed over the cheque to organisers at The Gowanbank Hub last week. 

The donation will be put towards supplying children in the South of Glasgow with around 420 snacks for mid-morning breaks at school.  

READ MORE: 'Play piece poverty' shame in Glasgow sees kids kept off school due to food insecurity

Paul Stirling, group retail director of the chain, said: “As part of our continued commitment to working with charities to help those most in need in our local communities, we hope these funds will help this charity continue with their great work with supporting local families.”

Their donation comes after a survey carried out by the Pollok facility revealed hundreds of school absences were being counted for due to food insecurity. 

Among 760 parents, 190 told how they were keeping their children off school due to “play piece poverty” with an average of four days of education lost every month per child. 

Glasgow Times:

Billy Coull, co-director of the organisation, said: "We would like to thank One-O-One for their generous donation which will be used to supply children with break time snacks at school.

"The £500 handed over to us will be used feed around 420 children which will help to eradicate prominent play piece poverty in the South of Glasgow."

Glasgow City Council has since announced a scheme that will see primary and secondary pupils across the city benefit from a free mid-morning snack.

All primary children will be given fruit and a hot snack will be supplied to those in secondary schools who are eligible for free school meals. 

Running from October to March 2022, it aims to boost health among young people and help families cut down on household bills.

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “The announcement last week about the morning snack for primary and eligible secondary pupils is in addition to Covid recovery funding that’s being provided to families most in need.

“This includes additional holiday payments to families who are eligible for free school meals.

“We know that these are challenging times and our schools and school staff do an amazing job supporting their school communities and we would urge families to speak to their schools to see if any additional help can be given.”