![\"gdst](\"https:\/\/www.gdst.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/louise-blake.png\")
<\/p>\nThe GDST reveals the 2020 Alumna of the Year Award<\/p>\n
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We are delighted to announce that this year\u2019s Alumna of the Year award goes to Louisa Blake, founder of social initiative, Looby Lou\u2019s Lovely Lunches<\/a>, and an alumna of Birkenhead High School Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Accepting her award, Louisa said, \u201cI would just like to say how grateful I am for receiving the GDST Alumna of the Year 2020 award. Whenever I look at the award, I get butterflies in my stomach and goose bumps \u2013 because to represent Birkenhead High School as Alumna of the Year is something really to be very proud of.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Louisa\u2019s story struck a unique chord with voters. Assistant head teacher at a primary school in the Wirral, Louisa set up Looby Lou\u2019s Lovely Lunches to deliver lunches during school holidays to children who would otherwise be going hungry. She noticed how some pupils\u2019 behaviours changed before holiday-time, as they faced the uncertainty of not having a regular meal each day. And having had difficult times in her own early childhood, she understood this only too well.<\/p>\n Louisa was already a volunteer for the Wirral\u2019s Homeless CIC, and this in part is what inspired her to set up Looby Lou\u2019s Lovely Lunches. She started by delivering packed lunches to 150 children who would normally receive free school meals, and has built it to the point where now, for six weeks in the summer, two at Christmas and two at Easter, she and her team make over 250 lunches a day throughout the holiday periods. Looby Lou does not receive any formal funding, relying on the kindness of friends, family and volunteers.<\/p>\n\u00a0Louisa\u2019s story struck a unique chord with voters<\/h3>\n