Jennifer recognised for helping to fill important gap

MAKING sure children had lunch at school often fell back on staff at some Surf Coast and Colac Otway schools but Jennifer Chiu and a team of sandwich makers have filled the gap – and many hungry bellies.

Jennifer is a member of Otway Rotaract and has been named as one of six finalists in the Geelong Westfield Local Hero awards for 2021 for her work to feed children.

For the past four years, inspired by charity Eat Up, Jennifer has been coordinating volunteers from local Rotaract and Rotary clubs and the wider community, to make lunches for school children from six schools.

“Teachers were giving their own lunches or starting a tab at the canteen for students who arrived without lunch every day,” she said.

“Now about 10 of us have a workshop once a month, and not always the same people, to make 200 sandwiches so the schools can freeze them until they are needed, plus apples and muesli bars.

“During lockdowns we’ve made up food boxes with staples like bread and fruit which we had delivered to families through each school network.”

She said the sandwich-making initiative started through the Eat Up campaign and now teachers could focus on teaching, children didn’t have to go hungry, and younger people had a way of volunteering.

“I wanted to raise awareness of young people being able to make a difference even if they don’t have a lot of time, just one hour on a Monday night once a month or just casually when they can make it,” Jen said, explaining many people thought they needed to be retired to volunteer.

Jennifer said if she was one of the three Hero winners, the $10,000 award would mean ingredients for 10,000 sandwiches and enable the volunteers to continue the program, which otherwise relied on grants.

Vote for Jen and other Local Heroes before August 30 via the Westfield website.