Charity provides school lunches for kids as food insecurity rises

It is lunchtime at Elizabeth Street Primary School at Moe in Victoria's east.

On today's menu, a chicken pasta bake is the hot option, and tuna and salad rolls are on offer for others. 

The children queuing up are told that the more they can stack on their plates, the better.

"I love the food, it's amazing," student Victoria says. 

"My favourite has been the lasagne and butter chicken, and I really like the wraps they make. 

"They give options to us that if we don't like a food, then we can just try it and I just love how they do that."

The lunches are part of a program that aims to tackle child hunger and improve student wellbeing across the country.

The charity Eat Up has launched its pilot program Spoonfull at the school, a universal meal program that provides every student at participating schools with a healthy lunch, every day. 

The program was officially launched at Elizabeth Street Primary School in its purpose-built Hearts and Hands Learning Kitchen, after some strong lobbying by the school's wellbeing officer Carol O'Reilly.

"I could see a need. I've been at this school for 17 years and I noticed running [the school's] breakfast club that kids are coming in without sandwiches," Ms O'Reilly said.

"Now I know they're going out for recess with a full belly."

She said learning outcomes and student welfare had improved greatly since the introduction of the program. 

"The kids are smiling. You can see them outside, they're playing and they're just dying to know what's for lunch."

School principal Ian Frost said the school lunch program had a positive impact on what students eat and had led to improved wellbeing and academic performance. 

"I think it's a very respectful way of helping them to be their best self,"

Mr Frost said.

A helping hand

Eat Up has been running for 15 years, delivering more than 6 million free on-demand school lunches to children experiencing food insecurity. 

Charity founder Lyndon Galea said the Spoonfull program built upon that business model to offer something more sustainable for schools to support students long-term. 

"This is different to our core model, [where] we have on-demand lunches, in terms of the cheese sandwiches, yoghurts and recess snacks," Mr Galea said.

"We've learnt of certain schools where there's perhaps a higher number of kids arriving without food from home or where the socio-economic need bites even harder," he said.

At Elizabeth Street Primary School, Spoonfull helped fund upgrades to the school kitchen to have commercial fridges and ovens, with hopes of also installing a dishwasher.

A growing need

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2023, about 16 to 22 per cent of Australian children experience food insecurity. 

Single-parent households and low-income families were at the highest risk. 

As the cost of living continues to affect families, so too has the growth in food insecurity. 

"Families who are already in a difficult spot are needing help more often and then a lot of families who have historically been just above that level of need and needing support are accessing food support for the very first time," Mr Galea said.  

"And a lot of the stories you hear is the parents are skipping meals long before it's ever the position where their kids are needing that help as well."

Eat Up hopes to have enough support to roll out similar pilots in two additional schools.

"I think it would be phenomenal for Australia and something our country can really take a big step forward [in]," Mr Galea said. 

Elizabeth Street Primary School student Victoria agreed and said she thought all schools could benefit from the program.

"I think it's very helpful for students if they don't get enough food and all the foods are yum," she said.

"I think all schools should use this. The program is amazing."