Major charity food supplier, FoodBank Australia, has released a hunger in the classroom report which shows two-thirds of Australian children arrive at school hungry everyday.
Educational experts estimate that the effectiveness of two-hours of learning is lost when a child goes to school hungry.
FoodBank Australia has also announced that it is introducing a new school breakfast program in Victoria.
This follows the May 2015 announcement that the Victorian government would be pledging $13.7 million to assist FoodBank Australia feed Victorian school children.
The program will see 500 of the state’s most disadvantaged schools receive free food for students in need. FoodBank Australia believes that the additional school breakfast funding initiative will enable the feeding of 25 000 extra students on top of those already receiving meals from FoodBank Australia.
“Every kilogram of food going to the 137,290 breakfasts given to Aussie children each week via a school breakfast program provides a long-term social return of $110 in terms of improved physical health and school performance,” he said.
“What many don’t realise is that investing in Australia’s school breakfast programs is also an investment into Australia’s future,” said Jason Hincks, CEO of FoodBank Australia.
Share the Warmth campaign continues
Australian Food News has also recently reported upon FoodBank Australia’s running of its Share the Warmth winter campaign. The campaign aims to feed the underprivileged hungry over the winter period. With each $1 donation, FoodBank Australia cis able to provide the retail equivalent of $9 of healthy food.
