Community & Business
23 February, 2023
Breaking down the stigma one breakfast at a time
THE stigma around Breakfast Club’s has been smashed by Ravenshoe State School with their Breakfast Club being regarded as a social event attended by nearly 50 kids every morning.
Ravenshoe State School P-12 hosts a break-fast club for both its senior and junior students every week through a chaplaincy program.
Kids can enjoy a range of confectionaries from pies to salami and cheese toasties to fresh bananas, all thanks to local donations.
All the food at the club is donated by locals with the workers always preferring to source locally instead of buying from supermarket chains.
Local Ken Carey has been volunteering his time at the Breakfast Club for several years and has seen more and more kids attend each year.
“What we’ve done is we’ve actually broken down the sort of stigma of breakfast club and turned it into a social event which has been fantastic,” he said.
“There has definitely been an uptick in the kids that are using it and we do use it as a social thing and explain to the parents it is not embarrassing to get breakfast.
“The kids know it is a safe environment for them.”
Local farmers provide a range of different ingredients, a Tully banana farmer provides heaps of excess bananas and the Ravenshoe Highland Bakery provides 10 loafs of break each Monday plus a range of other pies and pastries.
After buying Ravenshoe Highland Bakery in 2018, Tracy Cunliffe and Anthony Boscacci began supplying the school’s breakfast club as her child was a student previously and benefited from the club.
“I made personal donations (to the club) until we bought the bakery and I was in a good position to donate more,” she said.
“It is an excellent program and a great community service.
“We all know how important breakfast is for everyone, especially children, and unfortunately due to different circumstances not every child gets a breakfast at home.”
The bakery does not stop its support at just supplying freshly baked goods but also extends its hand to assist the school all year round with fundraisers such as car washes, bread and buns for sausage sizzles, Debutante Ball dinners, cent sales, sports days and students raising money for trips.
“We try to support locals whenever we can, so we buy our meat from the local butcher, milk & cream from Malanda & Mungalli Falls, local fruit & vegetables and local coffee beans,” Tracy said.
“We strongly believe in supporting locals, supporting the community we all live in and love.
“We really appreciate the volunteers who do the actual work at the school Breakfast Club because without their hard work and dedication, the donations mean nothing.”
