Local initiative fights food insecurity during school holidays

A COMMUNITY-LED initiative aimed at keeping the region’s children fed during the school holidays is preparing for its biggest challenge yet.

Launched earlier this year ahead of Term 1 by local mum Deeann Cropley, the “Pass the Snacks” pilot program has been supporting families from eight local schools to tackle the “holiday hunger gap”, the period between terms when in-school food programs and initiatives are not available to students.

In Term 1, more than 28kg of food was collected through the Pass the Snacks program and packaged into food boxes to provide support for up to 62 families located within the City of Greater Geelong.

In Term 2, this impact grew to 65 food boxes, and in Term 3 to 76 food boxes.

Community groups, local businesses, kindergartens, play groups and Geelong Food Relief are among those who have rallied around the program this year, helping to collect food donations and raise awareness of the often hidden need that exists in the community.

Ms Cropley is now looking ahead to the “monster” five-week Christmas holiday period, during which children will not have access to in-school support for about 30 days.

To meet this increased need, Pass the Snacks is hoping to boost its food box output by 50 per cent.

But the program, which receives no funding, needs support to achieve its goal and is encouraging the community to donate any food they can spare, or to contribute financially through a recently launched GoFundMe page.

“I just don’t think we can accept, as a community, that heaps of kids just go hungry in the holidays,” Ms Cropley said.

“Food donations are always, always welcome… [and] small little contributions all add up.”

Reflecting on the first nine months of the program, Ms Cropley said this year had only confirmed how significant the need for food assistance through the school holiday period is for many local families, especially as the cost of living continues to bite.

“Food’s not going as far and sometimes these kids just don’t really have that much at all.”

And the impact of the program has stretched far beyond what Ms Cropley first anticipated, with the feedback received from food boxes recipients suggesting the additional support is giving families the freedom to enjoy small activities together that might otherwise not be affordable.

“It’s not just about the hunger…it’s about the potential benefits for kids in terms of not being as socially isolated during the school holidays,” she said.

To learn more about Pass the Snacks, head to passthesnacksgeelong.com or visit the program’s Instagram page @passthesnacksgeelong

To donate, head to gofund.me/822aa8aa