SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM AWARDS

Volunteer Awards for 2022

Foodbank WA’s School Breakfast Program is perhaps one of the most recognisable and long-running programs we provide.

Since its inception, we had received many ad hoc requests for food from schools but it was off the back of a West Australian report in in July 2001 which stated that 16,000 children went to school each day with an empty stomach, and a specific request from Cloverdale Primary School (who surveyed their school community and found 17% of its students regularly arrived at school without having eaten breakfast) which resulted in the very first trial  of a before-school breakfast club. By the end of the 2001 school year, 16 other schools had joined Cloverdale in running ‘breakfast clubs.’

Today, we provide 475 schools with healthy food to ensure all students start their school day fuelled and ready to learn. The schools are responsible for running and staffing their own School Breakfast Programs (SBP), including ordering and collecting product from us, sourcing non-Foodbank items, setup/pack up, and serving food and interacting with students.

Introduced in 2011, the School Breakfast Program Volunteer Awards encourages schools to acknowledge the contribution of volunteers (whether they are school staff students, parents, or community volunteers) to the success of their School Breakfast Programs. A thank-you pack (certificate and letter) is provided for all nominees and is then presented to the individuals by the school.

Feedback about the Program has always been very positive. Often we hear that for many of our students, home is not always a safe place that is welcoming or where life’s basic necessities, are not provided. The t Program and the amazing volunteers who run them, provide a welcoming and safe place for all students.

Some of the fantastic nominations include:

Leeanne sets up and runs breakfast club every Tuesday and Thursday morning without fail, in the library. She arrives at school and attends to breakfast club before she starts her day or completes any other work. Warm spaghetti or a bowl of fruit and juice is always ready for our students. Leeanne uses this opportunity to build relationships with students and chat about what is going on in their lives. This provides our students with a social, and calm morning to begin their day.

You have been the reason Breakfast Club has continued this year, especially through such trying times. You have worked with true diligence, great patience and a happy spirit – your dedication and commitment have been such a blessing to all of us at Breakfast Club. Thank you.

Our volunteers provide many young people with a positive start to each day through their dedicated work to provide not only breakfast, but pastoral care and positive engagement. Their shared enthusiasm to have a laugh, talk with, and be there for our students each day is what makes Brekkie Club an important aspect of our school. They go above and beyond to ensure we have what we need to provide students the best of care, and the support of Student Services.

Brenda is the backbone of our Breakfast Club . As one half of the husband-and-wife team, Brenda helps feed nearly all of our 120 students twice a week, making countless muffins, pastries and toasted sandwiches. Not only does Brenda provide breakfast to our students, she makes extra lunch bags for students who arrive on late buses, and spends hours each week travelling to our nearest regional centre to collect supplies. Without her and her husband, Gordan, our students would miss out on this valuable opportunity.

Gordon provides much more to our students than just breakfast. He is an outstanding male role model for the students at our school. Gordan ensures that our students start their day right, not only with a home cooked breakfast, but with a check-in and a chat. Gordan, and his wife Brenda, have built valuable and long-lasting school and community connections that benefit our students greatly. Our staff and students highly value the significant contribute that they make to our school.

These ladies happily give their time for two hours each day to not only nourish our children physically, but to nourish them emotionally too. Breakfast club is a wonderful start to the day for our children, who love to come to eat, chat, and solve the problems of the world together.