Membership to the Breakfast Club is free – but the food is not.
Carinity Fassifern Community Centre is helping to alleviate the financial burden on local schools who supply complimentary breakfasts to students.
The community centre in Boonah has provided the Aratula, Boonah and Mt Alford State Schools with supermarket gift vouchers collectively valued at $3,000, to support their Breakfast Club activities and tuckshop programs.
The funding is part of Carinity’s Recovery and Resilience Project, supporting people within the Scenic Rim region who have been or are currently impacted by drought.
Boonah State School Principal Mark Winrow says up to 200 students benefit from his school’s Breakfast Club.
“Some of our kids leave on a bus at 6 o’clock in the morning and just don’t get a good breakfast every morning so it gives us that opportunity to provide them something that’s nutritious,” Mark says.
“Up until the donation of vouchers the Breakfast Club was run on the generosity of teachers so the vouchers have taken the burden off them and allowed us to supply the fruit, food, Milo and all the cups and plates that goes with it.”
Aratula State School’s Breakfast Club, which Principal Damien Butler says “gives students a little boost” with toast and fresh fruit, has been held two mornings a week since 2018.
“We also have a fruit break every day at 10 o’clock where we provide our three classes with fresh bananas, mandarins, apples and pears… and the kids have been loving it,” Damien says.
“The food vouchers we use are for a business in Kalbar (Scenic Rim Fruit and Veg) which is good because we’re feeding money back into the local community.
“We’re also using IGA gift cards from Carinity to purchase some small tinned foods like tuna and salmon for students who might come to school but have forgotten their lunch.”
Carinity Fassifern Community Centre’s Community Development Coordinator, Samantha Caves, says the school breakfast funding is part of the Queensland Government’s Drought Assistance program.
“We received $18,000 to provide flexible hardship support for individuals, households and families who are impacted by drought and who require assistance with cost of living pressures,” Samantha says.
“The Scenic Rim and Fassifern regions have experienced over three years of drought conditions. Unfortunately, due to bushfires and the recent impact of COVID-19, many community members have become even more vulnerable.”
Carinity Fassifern Community Centre has also partnered with charity Givit to support local kindergartens in the district.
Items donated to Givit including small appliances, cushions, knee rugs, gift vouchers and Babyhood Australia products were presented to Boonah District Kindergarten at Teviotville and Nature’s Kids Childcare Centre in Kalbar.
Carinity Fassifern Community Centre also sourced 10 new laptops through Givit, to assist with improving local people’s digital literacy and reducing social isolation.
