Often students in our Shire go without lunch for various reasons - it is hard to learn effectively if you are hungry. When the local Loaves and Fishes project was wound up, the Rotary Club of Portland was entrusted with using the residual funds wisely. Recognising this important ‘need of the hour’ for our school students, the Club set up a School Lunches Program with the assistance of several South West TAFE students by making hundreds of sandwiches every month for school children who need lunch.
Success in gaining financial support from the Port of Portland and in-kind support through food donations from Woolworths Portland has enabled the Club to keep this very worthy program running. Even the local Bupa Australia Portland aged care home chips in to assist us as their bus takes elderly residents for an outing and delivers the sandwiches to the more remote schools in our shire. The Portland Panthers Soccer Club has provided invaluable support by giving us access to their kitchen where we prepare and pack the sandwiches.
So, what do the Rotarians do? We label and pack the sandwiches in addition to coordinating and delivering the sandwiches to several local schools. It is not all hard work as there is a healthy amount of light hearted banter between the TAFE students and Rotarians who collectively get a tremendous sense of fulfilment.
Comments such as “you are lifesavers”; “you guys do an amazing job”; “you are angels” from staff at various schools warm the cockles of our hearts and motivate us to engage in more community work.