Meal service hits impressive milestone

Spare ya Change 4 Kids delivers its 20,000th meal in first week of service in 2023

Launched officially in 2019, local charity Spare Ya Change 4 Kids delivered its 20,000th meal last week – an impressive milestone by any measurement.

And the timing couldn’t have been more perfect in terms of local volunteers being able to showcase their efforts with the South Australian Liberal Party Grassroots Community Listening Tour to Mount Gambier coinciding with the milestone and the Opposition powerbrokers were at the Casadio Park kitchen to see history as it unfolded.

Spare Ya Change 4 Kids might have officially launched at the end of 2019 but in reality, it was a concept born more than three decades years ago when one compassionate parent did his bit to ensure kids weren’t going hungry at school.

That parent was John Pratt and his quiet work, which son Don only became aware of in more recent years, inspired Don to take that concept and run with it, along with Toni Vorenas, who was an early driving force and only recently stepped away from her board role, and Sam Johnston, who is still front and centre of the charity’s work. What started with John dropping off boxes of cereal and tins of milo weekly 30 years ago, never telling a soul what he was up to, proved the catalyst for the launch of Spare Ya Change 4 Kids, a program committed to feeding local school children.

The program had its infancy back in 2017 when Don hosted a Christmas Party in Melaleuca Reserve, having raised money for gifts for the children, and has continued to develop from there, moving from providing breakfast for students to also providing take home meals, hot or cold. Historically self-funded by Don, who is a trained chef, the funding model has continued to evolve starting with hotels and other hospitality outlets in town getting involved, by offering up their recyclable cans and bottles and as the program has continued to grow, the generosity of the community, both individuals and businesses, has grown with it. The hugely successful December 2019 launch at Metro Bakery & Café also played its role in filling the coffers raising more than $13,000, with almost $7000 of that in tips alone thanks to the dedicated celebrities who worked in one hour shifts to clear tables, run meals and drinks, and even whip up the coffee orders, which is where Member for Barker Tony Pasin came into his own, owning the coffee machine for his hour shift.

It was Mr Pasin’s shift, in combination with Di Ind, who has recently ascended to the chair of the Spare ya Change 4 Kids board, that yielded the most tips at that launch event as the community flooded into Metro Bakery & Café to support the program that feeds local school children – not just at school but with take home meals as well.

In those early days, the dream was a kitchen of their own and that has become a reality courtesy of a strong partnership with the Italo-Australian Club at its Casadio Park facility. Spare Ya Change 4 Kids cofounder and chief cook Don Pratt started off in his kitchen, had the opportunity to use the City Hall commercial kitchen for a few weeks during the height of COVID, but a permanent home was needed and one that could cope with the scaling up of meal production and delivery as awareness of the program and increased need within the community seeing demand only continuing to increase.

While the search for that home base was going on, the International Soccer Club – a major tenant of the Italo Australia Club – was forging a relationship with Foodbank, holding fundraising campaigns that saw one day yield 1200 meals and another 800 meals courtesy of food and financial donations.
It raised the awareness of Italo Australia Club president Rocco Bueti around what is being done behind closed doors in this community to help others as he became aware of the work of Spare Ya Change 4 Kids and another locally based charity Four Reasons Why.

Rocco found himself in conversations with leaders from all those programs and did hear that Spare Ya Change 4 Kids needed a space.

“I didn’t really think anything of it to start off with,” Rocco said. “It was just a conversation among friends but then I guess the penny dropped and I asked Toni (Vorenas) to come out and have a look at the kitchen at the club and see what she thought.” As a Spare Ya Change 4 Kids cofounder Toni couldn’t believe how perfectly suited the Italo Australia Club space was for the meal program.

“This seemed like a perfect way to maximise its use and Toni certainly gave the idea her tick of approval,” Rocco said. Forging that partnership Spare Ya Change was able to start churning out around 1000 meals a week and just as importantly the storage capacity meant they could ensure they always have plenty of meals on hand at a moment’s notice.

The permanent home base has allowed Don to concentrate on preparing the meals rather than spending time delivering the meals to the different drop off points at Foodbank and the participating schools.

“The kitchen was perfect, it was a quality commercial set up,” Don said. “There was quality equipment and the storage was a bonus. It also meant we now had a home where the wellbeing coordinators could come and pick up the meals rather than me driving all over the region to get the meals to everyone. It really was the perfect solution and we were really grateful for the opportunity to set up a home base.”

Rocco said it was an easy sell to get the Italo Australia Club board to support the new arrangement. “It was a no-brainer for the board,” he said. “We see helping and supporting the community as one of our roles and this was a perfect way to lend our support to an important cause. It focuses on a real need in our community and it gives us as a chance to give back to our community.”

That deal was brokered in January 2021 and that same year a Stand Like Stone Foundation $10,000 grant, as well as a generous, anonymous benefactor, who pledged to be an ongoing supporter, also helped sure up Spare Ya Change 4 Kids’ future. Achieving charity status was another critical step taken by the local community service but in the end, it’s about the meals and the kids and their families who benefit from having access to them.

In September 2020 they celebrated the 10,000 meal mark and even then, the worth of the program was clear. Grant High School was one of the nine schools that formed part of the Spare Ya Change 4 Kids family as the 10,000 milestone was reached and student support worker Ben Tremelling was full of praise for the program.

“A hungry student is a disadvantaged student and the link between hunger and the ability to concentrate is well established,” Ben said. “The most important factor of this program is the ability to allow anonymity, thus avoiding any stigma or embarrassment. The whole community benefits, especially when students who feel like life just is one long, uncaring struggle are given some hope that someone or something actually cares, while a benefit that wasn’t initially planned for has been the building of relationships.” Current board chair Di Ind was proud of the 20,000 meal mark and already looking to the future.

“Our operations are funded through a mix of fundraising events, grants and kind donations to support our cause so we always need to be on the lookout for opportunities to maintain this work,” Ms Ind said. Tania Plunkett and Damien Wilson have joined the board, filling the vacancies left by Toni Vorenas and Frank Morello.

THE ORIGINAL TEAM: (Above) Sam Johnston, Don Pratt and Toni Vorenas were the key drivers in the early days of setting up Spare Ya Change 4 Kids.

VOLUNTEER DRIVEN: (Below left) Some of the hard working Spare Ya Change 4 Kids volunteers outside their Casadio Park home base.

FRONT ROW SEAT: (Below right) The Spare Ya Change 4 Kids team with the visiting South Australian Liberal Shadow Cabinet as the 20,000 meal was prepared and packed last week.