{"id":11328,"date":"2021-09-01T06:30:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T20:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/2021\/09\/01\/hungry-queensland-children\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T10:04:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T00:04:23","slug":"hungry-queensland-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/hungry-queensland-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungry Queensland Children Fall Through The Cracks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t

Hungry Queensland children fall through the cracks<\/span><\/h2>\n

As Queensland lockdowns cause an increase in demand for food relief,\u00a0the state\u2019s largest hunger relief charity, Foodbank Queensland, launches the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Foodbank Hunger Drive<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>raising vital funds to help hungry families\u00a0falling\u00a0through the cracks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Foodbank Queensland CEO Sara Harrup said 22% of Queenslanders experiencing hunger were children, with many children going to school without breakfast or lunch.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the impacts of COVID-19 placing extreme pressures on families, many parents are facing the scary reality of not being able to feed their kids.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur School Breakfast Program is vital for children facing hunger, but sadly,\u00a079\u00a0Queensland schools are currently on Foodbank\u2019s growing waitlist for nutritious breakfast foods to help give hungry kids the energy they need to learn and thrive,\u201d\u00a0Ms\u00a0Harrup said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After waiting for more than 6 months, Burketown State School, a primary school located in an isolated far\u00a0North West\u00a0Queensland town, recently began a Foodbank school breakfast program to help combat the challenge of school attendance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Ford, Burketown State School Principal, said with the help of Foodbank, they can now provide a healthy breakfast five days a week for up to 40 students, nearly the whole school, to give children the best start to their school day.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany students wouldn\u2019t come to school because they had nothing to eat for breakfast and had no lunch to bring to school.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe recently received our first delivery from Foodbank, and it has made such a difference in reducing the barriers children face when coming to school,\u201d\u00a0Mr\u00a0Ford said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Foodbank Hunger Drive is calling on schools, individuals and\u00a0organisations\u00a0to join the fight against hunger by creating a Hunger Drive fundraiser or donating food hampers virtually.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlee Oddo,\u00a0a Grade 5 student at Queen of Apostles Primary School who features in the\u00a0Hunger Drive\u00a0promo\u00a0video\u00a0said she was helping to\u00a0organise\u00a0a superhero free dress day at\u00a0her school and encouraging her classmates to dress up as \u2018Hunger Fighters\u2019 to raise vital funds.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis September, my school has signed up to fight hunger to help Foodbank supply half a million meals to Queenslanders in need.\u00a0Every one\u00a0dollar we raise for the Foodbank Hunger Drive will create two nutritious meals for families going hungry,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kym Waters, Assistant Principal Religious Education at Queen of Apostles said the school was proud to be supporting the Foodbank Hunger Drive and creating opportunities for students to be involved in social justice issues to make a difference to the lives of others.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur superhero\u00a0dress\u00a0up day is part of a larger focus to not only fundraise but educate our school community and their families about food insecurity, which has increased since the pandemic.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt also teaches the students about ways in which we can work together to sustainably address this issue through reducing food waste and supporting the front-line charities that work with our vulnerable Australians,” she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms\u00a0Harrup said the charity was currently distributing more than 115,000 kilograms of food every three days, and this was still not enough to keep up with the growing demand for\u00a0emergency\u00a0food relief across the state.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFood is rushing out the door faster than ever before, and we are struggling to keep up,\u201d\u00a0Ms\u00a0Harrup said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

High profile \u2018Hunger Fighters\u2019 supporting the campaign include Brisbane Broncos\u2019 Scott Prince and 7News Reporter Kendall Gilding.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kendall Gilding said as a proud Ambassador of Foodbank she was holding a Hunger Drive fundraiser at work this September to fight hunger.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often don\u2019t\u00a0realise\u00a0how close to home hunger is across our state \u2013 sadly, one in five Queenslanders are dealing with the anguish and despair of not knowing where their next meal will come from,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, we can help our friends,\u00a0neighbours\u00a0and colleagues who are struggling to make ends meet during these stressful and unpredictable times,\u201d Kendall said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott Prince said tackling hunger here in Queensland was a massive team effort.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud to be supporting the Hunger Drive and helping Foodbank raise vital funds to source and deliver more food across our state to Queenslanders\u00a0in crisis.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you make a one-off donation or create a Hunger Drive fundraiser, you can make a big difference to the lives of vulnerable Queenslanders,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporting the Hunger Drive campaign is Foodbank\u2019s partner Sunny Queen Australia who is matching all donations made to the Hunger Drive in September to help twice as many people in need.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For\u00a0media enquiries, contact Zoe Templeton, Marketing & Communications Specialist:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

M:<\/span><\/b>\u00a00435 133 601<\/span>
\n<\/span>E:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>zoe@foodbankqld.org.au<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A statement by Foodbank Queensland CEO Sara Harrup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":19621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,242],"tags":[132],"class_list":["post-11328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-releases","category-qld","tag-media-release"],"acf":[],"formatted_date":"September 1, 2021","raw_html":"

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t

Hungry Queensland children fall through the cracks<\/span><\/h2>\n

As Queensland lockdowns cause an increase in demand for food relief,\u00a0the state\u2019s largest hunger relief charity, Foodbank Queensland, launches the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Foodbank Hunger Drive<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>raising vital funds to help hungry families\u00a0falling\u00a0through the cracks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Foodbank Queensland CEO Sara Harrup said 22% of Queenslanders experiencing hunger were children, with many children going to school without breakfast or lunch.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith the impacts of COVID-19 placing extreme pressures on families, many parents are facing the scary reality of not being able to feed their kids.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur School Breakfast Program is vital for children facing hunger, but sadly,\u00a079\u00a0Queensland schools are currently on Foodbank\u2019s growing waitlist for nutritious breakfast foods to help give hungry kids the energy they need to learn and thrive,\u201d\u00a0Ms\u00a0Harrup said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After waiting for more than 6 months, Burketown State School, a primary school located in an isolated far\u00a0North West\u00a0Queensland town, recently began a Foodbank school breakfast program to help combat the challenge of school attendance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Ford, Burketown State School Principal, said with the help of Foodbank, they can now provide a healthy breakfast five days a week for up to 40 students, nearly the whole school, to give children the best start to their school day.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany students wouldn\u2019t come to school because they had nothing to eat for breakfast and had no lunch to bring to school.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe recently received our first delivery from Foodbank, and it has made such a difference in reducing the barriers children face when coming to school,\u201d\u00a0Mr\u00a0Ford said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Foodbank Hunger Drive is calling on schools, individuals and\u00a0organisations\u00a0to join the fight against hunger by creating a Hunger Drive fundraiser or donating food hampers virtually.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlee Oddo,\u00a0a Grade 5 student at Queen of Apostles Primary School who features in the\u00a0Hunger Drive\u00a0promo\u00a0video\u00a0said she was helping to\u00a0organise\u00a0a superhero free dress day at\u00a0her school and encouraging her classmates to dress up as \u2018Hunger Fighters\u2019 to raise vital funds.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis September, my school has signed up to fight hunger to help Foodbank supply half a million meals to Queenslanders in need.\u00a0Every one\u00a0dollar we raise for the Foodbank Hunger Drive will create two nutritious meals for families going hungry,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kym Waters, Assistant Principal Religious Education at Queen of Apostles said the school was proud to be supporting the Foodbank Hunger Drive and creating opportunities for students to be involved in social justice issues to make a difference to the lives of others.\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur superhero\u00a0dress\u00a0up day is part of a larger focus to not only fundraise but educate our school community and their families about food insecurity, which has increased since the pandemic.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt also teaches the students about ways in which we can work together to sustainably address this issue through reducing food waste and supporting the front-line charities that work with our vulnerable Australians,” she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms\u00a0Harrup said the charity was currently distributing more than 115,000 kilograms of food every three days, and this was still not enough to keep up with the growing demand for\u00a0emergency\u00a0food relief across the state.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFood is rushing out the door faster than ever before, and we are struggling to keep up,\u201d\u00a0Ms\u00a0Harrup said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

High profile \u2018Hunger Fighters\u2019 supporting the campaign include Brisbane Broncos\u2019 Scott Prince and 7News Reporter Kendall Gilding.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kendall Gilding said as a proud Ambassador of Foodbank she was holding a Hunger Drive fundraiser at work this September to fight hunger.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often don\u2019t\u00a0realise\u00a0how close to home hunger is across our state \u2013 sadly, one in five Queenslanders are dealing with the anguish and despair of not knowing where their next meal will come from,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, we can help our friends,\u00a0neighbours\u00a0and colleagues who are struggling to make ends meet during these stressful and unpredictable times,\u201d Kendall said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott Prince said tackling hunger here in Queensland was a massive team effort.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud to be supporting the Hunger Drive and helping Foodbank raise vital funds to source and deliver more food across our state to Queenslanders\u00a0in crisis.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you make a one-off donation or create a Hunger Drive fundraiser, you can make a big difference to the lives of vulnerable Queenslanders,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporting the Hunger Drive campaign is Foodbank\u2019s partner Sunny Queen Australia who is matching all donations made to the Hunger Drive in September to help twice as many people in need.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For\u00a0media enquiries, contact Zoe Templeton, Marketing & Communications Specialist:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

M:<\/span><\/b>\u00a00435 133 601<\/span>
\n<\/span>E:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>zoe@foodbankqld.org.au<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/section>","ACF":{"custom_facebook_pixel":"","disable_header":false,"disable_footer":false,"highlight_post":false},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/FBQ_Food-flat-lay_Foodbank-owned_2022.jpg","author_name":"Kim Reid","spinnr_header":"default_spinnr_header","spinnr_mobile_menu":"default_spinnr_mobile_menu","spinnr_footer":"default_spinnr_footer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15329,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11328\/revisions\/15329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foodbank.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}