School lunches are about to become a whole lot healthier at Victory Primary School, with a new healthy lunchbox programme kicking off at the school yesterday morning.
For just a gold coin donation, 56 children received a bio-degradable plastic lunchbox filled with carrot sticks, a banana, a peanut butter sandwich, scroggin, plus homemade yoghurt and baking.
Nelson charity Food for Families is behind the idea, and the lunchboxes will be offered at the school on Mondays and Wednesdays. The programme is also up and running at Stoke School, where it has been well received.
Nicola Bare, Programme and Facilities Manager at the Victory Community Centre, has been one of the driving forces to bring the lunches to the school, and says it will not only fill tummies, but help to educate families about healthy eating.
“Food for Families already do a community dinner at the community centre on Friday nights, as well as food drop offs, and so we thought the lunches would be a great thing to have at the school,” she says.
“We instigated it and worked with Food for Families who put the idea to the principal and the school board – and it was a no brainer for them, really. So many kids come to school with no lunch box, just a plastic bag, and the teachers are always in the staff room making sandwiches for kids.
“It’s about getting kids into healthy eating, and what’s simpler than giving your child one dollar for a healthy lunch. It’s just basic whole food, and it’s easy as well.”
Principal Helen Taylor-Young says they have children coming to school with minimal or no lunch, and although they have systems in place to deal with those occasions, the healthy lunchbox programme will be well received.
“We are also part of the Fruit in Schools and Milk for Schools schemes, but this this is fantastic for our families who may not be able to afford lunch,” she says.
Food for Families co-ordinator Martin Reading says the lunches take him about an hour-and-a-half to prepare, and he now has some volunteers on board to help – plus some time-saving techniques, such as using a squirt bottle for the peanut butter.
All the food for the lunches is donated by local businesses, with Shamels Essential Foods, Pic’s Peanut Butter, Countdown, New World, Village Milk, and MG Marketing all chipping in. But they are still needing someone to donate plastic containers for the lunches.
“It’s always been my intention to start at Victory School. We are getting really good feedback from Stoke School and people are amazed how we can do it for just a gold coin.”
Martin says they are looking to expand the programme to other schools, with Tahunanui School a possibility in the near future. Kids can place their orders on Friday and Tuesday mornings.
Orders are taken at Victory Primary School on Tuesday and Friday morning in the senior quad and the school.
