A catering company has volunteered to donate hot meals to a charity set up to help young mothers and their children.

Take Five delivers meals to the Teen Services/Teen Haven home every weeknight to help ease financial pressure on the non-profit organisation.

Michelle Wade, the Teen Services executive director, said that the company, which owns the Buzz chain, provided wholesome meals for families, including 11 children. She said: “It arrives just in time for dinner, about 4.30pm, and the young ladies are able to prepare dinner for their children and themselves.

“They’re nutritious meals, they usually come with about two starches, grilled or steamed vegetables and fish, chicken or red meat.”

Ms Wade added: “The young ladies look forward to it.

“We have children from about six months up to the age of 10, so at dinnertime there is plenty.”

The meal donations mean that there is less pressure on the food budget at Pembroke-based Teen Haven, which offers transitional housing, counselling and other services to teenage girls, young women and their children.

Ms Wade said: “We’re very grateful to be able to have delicious tasting food and very grateful for the fact that the community is interested and supportive of our young people.

“The mothers are very important, but the children — they have to be fed properly, they have to be nourished.”

Jason Berwick, the co-chief executive officer of Take Five, explained that the partnership came about after a connection was made between the organisations by insurance firm Aspen.

He added: “We are working with them on some other community projects and they approached us about how we could help Teen Haven.”

Mr Berwick explained that Take Five, which offers catering services and also has the Devil’s Isle and Village Pantry restaurants, donated hot, buffet-style food from Monday to Friday each week.

He said: “It’s concerning to see that, in a society like Bermuda, there’s very little safety nets for people once they fall through the cracks, especially young mothers.”

Mr Berwick added: “With single mothers, the cost of living in Bermuda definitely means you’re going to struggle to hold down a job and try to find yourself a place of your own.

“I think Teen Haven is a transition point, it stabilises some of these moms. It’s a great jumping platform.”

Adam Barboza, Aspen’s director of corporate social responsibility, said: “For years, Aspen Bermuda has been committed to investing in our local community, and proactive collaborations have been key to our charitable endeavours.

“By connecting the dedicated people at Teen Services with a community-focused organisation like Take Five/Buzz, we’ve created a win-win solution that is greatly helping people who need it the most.

“We look forward to cultivating more partnerships like these in the future that can make a positive difference in people’s lives.”

Mr Barboza added that Aspen had worked with Teen Haven in the past and the latest collaboration was developed “based on a deeper understanding of their needs”.