By Caroline Hartnett
When Lyndon Galea heard children at two nearby schools were arriving to class on empty stomachs, he gathered bread, cheese and margarine from his mother’s cupboard and made 100 cheese sandwiches.
“I had this impulsive thought, ‘What if I did something really simple and made some sandwiches at home and dropped them off?’” the Shepparton local said.
Lyndon Galea makes cheese toasties for kids who might otherwise go hungry at school.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
He got more than he bargained for when, after that first drop-off, the schools rang Galea back and asked for another 200.
“There was no plan, there was no vision, but when they called back I thought, ‘We are going to have to make these in a sustainable ongoing way’,” he said.
That led him to found Eat Up Australia. Twelve years on it supports 1074 schools nationally, making and delivering more than 1 million lunches per year. It is about to deliver its five-millionth lunch.
“The sandwiches were for disadvantaged school children who would otherwise miss out. Kids were regularly arriving at school without food from home,” Galea said.
“Kids can’t concentrate, which makes it nearly impossible for them to learn.”
Volunteers prepare sandwiches from food and materials donated by corporate and community partners. The sandwiches are frozen by the schools and served as needed, allowing teachers to discreetly support students.
“The freezing component is really important. First of all, it gives the control of the model back to the teachers, who have the rapport and skill set to engage with the kids. They deal with the kids in a way that is sensitive to any embarrassment,” Galea said.
“They toast the humble cheese toastie. It is a moment of care and trust. They can also check in to see if there is any other support needed.”
Belinda Karlsson, principal of Broadmeadows Valley Primary School, said the lunches provided stability and eased pressure on families.
Eat Up Australia is about to deliver its five-millionth lunch.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“The cheese sandwiches and snacks provided by Eat Up to the school enable us to support students and their families by ensuring that students have access to sufficient nourishment, which is essential for their growth and learning, especially in light of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis,” she said.
State schools form the majority of the program’s participants, but the charity is seeing increased demand from Catholic and private schools, and has a waiting list of 488 schools.
Foodbank, Australia’s largest food relief organisation, said food insecurity is a particular problem for schoolchildren as it can lead to behavioural problems and learning difficulties, including poor concentration, fatigue and reduced attendance.
Recognising the cognitive issues that arise from hunger, governments in Britain, the United States, Japan and New Zealand provide schoolchildren with free daily meals.
The federal government does not have a history of providing free school lunches and neither Labor nor the Coalition have plans or policies to fund such a program.
The Victorian government funds the School Breakfast Clubs program through Foodbank, which provides daily meals for breakfast or lunch to children at qualifying schools.
More than 1100 state schools use the program – which has served 52 million meals so far – including 100 schools that joined last year.
In the last budget, the state government pledged to make the program available to every government school from July, allocating another $21.1 million on top of the $141.2 million invested in the program since 2016.
“Kids can’t learn on an empty stomach – that’s why as part of a world-class education we’re giving students a free, healthy breakfast before school every day in the Education State,” said Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll.
The Coalition took a school lunches policy to the last state election.
In response to questions about whether the party would make the same promise at the 2026 poll, education spokeswoman Jess Wilson blamed Labor for the rising cost of living.
“Every student deserves the best opportunity to learn and reach their full potential and targeted support in this area has an important role to play,” she said.
For now, Galea continues to make cheese toasties and provide nutritious snacks to hungry kids, just as he did from his mother’s kitchen bench in 2013.
“The need has grown, but so has our resolve,” Galea said. “Until every child has the food they need to thrive at school, we’ll keep delivering lunches.”
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