Grocery Cards for parents/caregivers

Has your school chosen for grocery cards for parents/caregivers, then you will receive a message from the Red Cross. On this page you will find more information about organising grocery cards for your school.

In the following video, a school and a Red Cross employee explain how organizing grocery cards at school works and how this affects the students.

First contact through schools

The first contact with parents/caregivers is through the school. We will ask you to inform the parents/caregivers of your school about the School Meals Programme. We will share multiple communication materials with you for this.

As a school you therefore have the responsibility to tell the parents/caregivers about the programme and to share information with them. In this way they will know about the existence of the programme and they will be able to register for a grocery card.

Sharing information with parents/caregivers

This can be done through:

Addressing parents/caregivers personally;
Sharing information about the School Meals Programme multiple times;
Using all possible channels: online as well as physical newsletters, WhatsApp messages, Your school’s socials, or whichever means your school uses to communicate with parents/caregivers;
Providing assistance with enrollment;
Appointing a school staff member as a point of contact;
Highlighting the programme during school gatherings;
Utilising parent ambassadors;
Distributing flyers/letters or hanging them up within the school.
Various materials are available for schools that have chosen for the grocery cards. There are also videos that further explain the programme. You can find them here [link].

Every two months, a newsletter containing additional information for participating schools will be published. We will also include materials for parents/caregivers. If you have any questions, you can always contact us via the contact form.

Registration of parents/caregivers

The parents/caregivers receive a link to an online registration form in which they will be asked certain questions. Subsequently, you will receive a message from the Red Cross with the request to verify two things:

whether the parents/caregivers are known to you and
whether the number of children from this family at your school is correct.

The Red Cross will enter into a data processing agreement with the participating schools for this purpose

The Red Cross has access to the information from the online registration form. On the basis of the answers we decide if the parent/caregiver is allowed to participate. Parent/caregivers will receive an reaction within two weeks. Then they will hear if they fulfill the necessary requirements for the programme. If they do not fulfill the requirements they will receive a rejection. If they do not agree with the decision and they could use the help, they will be asked to contact our programme’s customer service.

You can direct parents/caregivers to our customer service.

Call, text, or WhatsApp at 097 010 204 851 (open Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00) or fill in the contact form

Role of the school

We ask schools to keep track of whether students leave the school and if siblings are joining. In such cases, the school should update the number of children from the respective family in the enrollment.

It’s also beneficial for schools to have a point of contact for parents/caregivers. For instance, for questions regarding the programme and assistance in registering. We’ve noticed that parents appreciate this, especially those who might not be skilled with computers.

Grocery Card

As soon as parents/caregivers are taken into the programme they will be sent a grocery card. Their privacy is respected. From the envelope of the programme, it is not visible that the card is from the School Meals Programme.

Twice a month € 25 will be put on the card per registered child.
A family can register a maximum of 3 children.
Parents/caregivers will receive instructions on how to use the card. They can also contact the customer service of the School Meals Programme.

More information about the grocery card can be found on the page for parents/caregivers.