Anglicare parish grant scheme
The Clarence High School Breakfast Club Team.
Students can eat and be healthy
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet a surprisingly high number of Australian children regularly skip it.
According to the University of Sydney’s Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Study at least 25 per cent of children don’t eat breakfast.
Going to school hungry can greatly affect children’s behaviour and their ability to learn. Eating breakfast helps with concentration in the classroom.
The Breakfast Club for students at Clarence High School started after St Mark’s Bellerive sought funding from Anglicare Tasmania’s Parish Grant scheme. They had the support of the school chaplain and the church community.
The Breakfast Club was developed to provide students who may have gone without breakfast with an opportunity to get some breakfast and eat with their friends.
The Clarence High School Breakfast Club initially started with volunteers from St Mark’s Bellerive and the Energiser Life Church offering students breakfasts of toast and hot Milo. Community members have since given donations of fruit. By the end of last year the Breakfast Club had grown so popular that 40 to 50 students were eating at the club each week.
The Clarence High School Breakfast Club is gaining community recognition — recently winning a Crime Prevention and Community Safety award for the support provided to young people in their local community.
Anglicare’s Parish Grant scheme helped establish the breakfast club in a couple of ways. When the Bellerive Parish first talked to the school they were able to demonstrate that they had community support by the financial backing from Anglicare.
The grant has since been used to pay for the running costs of the Breakfast Club and has given the program plenty of time to find some ongoing sponsorship.
Anglicare Parish Grants are awarded by the Board of Anglicare and applications are always welcome for parish programs which complement Anglicare's aims. Application forms are available from Anglicare’s Executive team on 6231 9602.