Charlotte Varcoe
MORE Mount Gambier parents are turning to school breakfast clubs as the increasing cost of living puts pressure on families across the region.
Almost all schools across the Limestone Coast now run a breakfast program multiple times each week, with food supplies coming from Foodbank, to keep up with the increased demand.
After running Mount Gambier North Primary School’s breakfast program for almost two years, student wellbeing officer Simone Badenoch said families were struggling a little more than usual due to the increasing cost of food.
Ms Badenoch encouraged anyone in need to not be embarrassed to ask for help.
“We have been running the breakfast club program for about two years now and the kids come in whether they need food or not, grab a slice of toast and enjoy that morning interaction,” Ms Badenoch said.
“A lot of our classrooms have toasters as well because we go by the theory that if your body needs food then you need to eat in order to learn.”
Ms Badenoch said the school did not have “cafe-style” food available but there were staples such as bread and cheese available for families in need.
She said the school was also in need of volunteers to help with other means of supporting families who may be doing it tough.
“We have a vegetable garden and we used to make soup out of the vegetables we would grow but we just don’t have the manpower to do that anymore so if people do want to come and help make soup or even come along and serve it, we would be grateful,” Ms Badenoch said.
Foodbank SA chief executive Greg Pattinson said the increased cost of living was putting pressure on charity organisations with at least one new school a day requesting breakfast club food donations.
“More and more kids are going to school without breakfast across South Australia and these students are from working families who would not normally need that support,” Mr Pattinson said.
“There is an increase in the amount of food needed for breakfast clubs and some of those schools also give families a referral to Foodbank if they feel it is needed.”
He said the increase in demand “boiled down to” the cost of living as well as the cost of housing and rental prices.
“Everyone is getting hit by all sides and both the State and Federal Government need to look at their respective policies and ensure housing is affordable; they need to look at tax incentives for rental properties and encourage more properties to be put on the market,” he said.
“If the cost of living keeps rising we believe people will need a greater amount of income to make sure they don’t need to seek our services and the price of food needs to come down too.”
