On the road with our Farms to Families Market truck

Have you spotted our purple pop-up market truck on the road recently? It may be little, but the bespoke food mover sure can carry a whole lot of fruit and vegetables! Here’s an inside peek into our recent trip to Morwell.

Introducing our new Face of Foodbank

Spotted a familiar face on our social media networks recently? The one and only, Hamish Blake, has joined the Foodbank family as our new Ambassador and we couldn’t be more excited!

A dedicated family man and all round ‘do-gooder,’ Hamish shares our belief that every Victorian family should be able to put food on the table, and recently posted on his social media account in support of our COVID-19 Food Crisis Appeal. Stay tuned!

Check out Hamish Blake’s latest Foodbank post

School Spotlight: Hillsmeade Primary School

Hillsmeade Primary School is a large, multicultural, primary school with 865 students in the Narre Warren South/Berwick area.

Prior to implementing the School Breakfast Clubs Program in Term 2 2020, the school ran an independent Breakfast Club one day a week through the school canteen, with approximately 30 students attending per day. This is supported through staff and parent volunteers and student leaders.

Given the remote learning environment in which schools were operating for most of Term 2 this year, this school came up with some innovative ways to support students and their families.

When school returns to normal operation, they will set up outdoor furniture to create a space similar to an outdoor cafeteria, where students can sit with each other and their families, to enjoy breakfast.

Supporting the community during COVID-19

School Principal Jodie Bray says that with only 20-50 students attending school during Term 2, John Cardamone, of the school Well Being Team suggested making hampers to support families whose children were now unable to access the School Breakfast Club support.

“Staff were really quite upset after some of the phone calls they’d had with our families around them being in financial distress, given the state of COVID and their employment.  Teachers were reaching out and asking what are some of the things that we can do? And John came up with the idea of putting together hampers”, said Jodie.

The school have a structured intervention process and identified vulnerable families that required assistance through a series of tiered well-being checks.

Jodie explained that while the families at Hillsmeade are generally stable in their reported family occupation, they do now have some very vulnerable families due to job losses resulting from COVID-19.

“One of the families who always had regular work, we never thought would need something like this,” she says.

John also mentions that for families with children with challenging behaviors, or those requiring additional care at home, receiving delivered hampers has been greatly appreciated.

They both praise Felicity Pettingill who works in the canteen, who took on making up and distributing 30 hampers per fortnight. She also volunteers her time on a Monday to deliver the hampers because it better suits some families.

The school bought re-usable shopping bags which they filled with all the products supplied by the School Breakfast Clubs Program, including breakfast cereals, milk and lunches. The school have added a personalised message for the families, explaining the food has been provided the through the partnership with Foodbank as part of the School Breakfast Clubs program.

“It’s a little way of saying ‘we’re thinking of you’, from Hillsmeade,” says Jodie.

Jody reports the school loves the variety that the School Breakfast Clubs Program offers, given they were only providing cereal and toast previously, which they funded through their welfare budget. They are planning on introducing a cooked breakfast one day per week, as well as Friday Fruit, where the fruit is distributed amongst the classrooms to support the students to engage in healthy eating.

“We’re really big on supporting the social and emotional learning and the health and wellbeing of our community, so this has just partnered beautifully with that.”

Looking towards Term 3, Hillsmeade Primary School aim to continue to support their school community both with the food hampers and through their School Breakfast Club, in a ‘COVID-safe’ manner.

“We’re really prepared, we have safe work practices within our school, and we’ve mitigated the risks of operating in the canteen, and we’re ready to go” says Jodie.

School Spotlight: Echuca College

Echuca College has 800 students and their story involved the community banding together to support students with lunches.

While Echuca College only joined the School Breakfast Clubs program in Term 2, they were already running a successful Breakfast Club and Lunch program, so when remote learning came into effect, they adjusted to ensure they continued to support their students.

Dorinda, who looks after students well-being at Echuca College, said that many of the schools in the area came together under the co-ordination of a local teacher, and set up a Foodbank of their own that ran out of one of the local pubs.

Staff at the Hotel dedicated their time to making lunches for students in the area who would otherwise normally receive lunch at school. Echuca College contributed honey, vegemite, fruit cups and mini milks from the School Breakfast Clubs program to go alongside the sandwiches provided to local students.

Every Friday Dorinda would let the coordinator of the initiative know how many students needed lunch the following week, and by Monday and Wednesday they would have them packed into bags, ready to go out. The lunches were then delivered to students’ homes weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Dorinda noted that “once the community worked out what was going on, they started getting donations to support the local initiative”. There were other small businesses including bakeries, the local IGA supermarket and cafés in the area that also contributed to the effort.

This is an excellent example of how communities came together during this time, and it certainly is lovely to hear how supportive the Echuca Moama community were towards students and families during remote learning.

School Spotlight: Kilmore Primary School

Kilmore Primary School is an hour north of Melbourne and has 560 students. They started with the School Breakfast Clubs program in Term 2 of this year. Unfortunately, COVID-19 meant they were unable to start their Breakfast Club as planned. Instead, they responded by providing around 70 hampers to their students learning remotely, and offered a Grab n Go breakfast to those who continued to attend school.

Julie, the Assistant Principal, said they selected students “by outlining those most in need, then as they got more information about parents who had lost their jobs or situations had changed that list expanded”.

They also delivered their School Breakfast Club hampers a little differently. The staff dropped the food off to students’ houses with a note that it was a ‘Random Act of Kindness’. This was very well received by those students and families! They even had some families donate additional food, and one Grandmother donated Coles vouchers to be added to the hampers. Julie said the initiative “had a ripple effect”.

They received many phone calls and emails from families thanking them for their kindness. Julie also highlighted that none of this would have been possible without the support of the canteen manager, who is also a parent, and up to eight Education Support staff, who packed and delivered the hampers to each student’s home.

Julie noted that “it did take a bit of effort, but it was certainly well received. You don’t mind doing it when you get lots of positive feedback and you know the kids are getting some food, and you’re taking a bit of pressure off the home”.

Durkin Produce

Located in Thorpdale, Victoria’s ‘potato capital,’ Durkin Produce have been long-term supporters of Foodbank, regularly donating potatoes to help feed those in need.

Father and son duo, Mike and Matt Durkin, oversee the harvest of 10,000 tonnes of potatoes a year for the Durkin Group. The farm supplies a large amount of potatoes to Woolworths and Aldi every year.

Son Matt says when working in the food industry, it’s important to have a social conscience.

“We like donating to Foodbank as it allows for some of our potatoes to make their way to some of those less fortunate in our community, and provide them with a good nutritious food staple,” he says.

Mike, who is in charge of the operation, says that aside from a social conscience, the benefit of farmers donating to Foodbank is that it avoids waste.

He says because consumers only want premium potatoes from supermarkets, many of their potatoes are unable to make their way to retailers.

“It’s very frustrating. There’s nothing wrong with the product apart from cosmetically or it’s out of specifications. But it’s just wasted.”

“The Thorpdale farming community is no different to any other. Everyone is involved in the footy and netball clubs, the school and kinder and things are tough in the bush.

“Whether you donate time or services or product, it’s part and parcel of living in regional Australia.”

It’s thanks to generous farmers and growers like Durkin Produce that we’re able to ensure hungry Victorians have access to healthy food.

Nature’s Dairy

Every term we deliver breakfast, lunch and school holiday supplies to schools across Victoria so students can get a healthy start to the day and milk is one of the key ingredients! Where does it come from? From the hard-work farmers at Nature’s Dairy.