“They toast the humble cheese toastie. It is a moment of care and trust. They can also check in to see if there is any other support needed.”
Belinda Karlsson, principal of Broadmeadows Valley Primary School, said the lunches provided stability and eased pressure on families.
Eat Up Australia is about to deliver its five-millionth lunch.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“The cheese sandwiches and snacks provided by Eat Up to the school enable us to support students and their families by ensuring that students have access to sufficient nourishment, which is essential for their growth and learning, especially in light of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis,” she said.
State schools form the majority of the program’s participants, but the charity is seeing increased demand from Catholic and private schools, and has a waiting list of 488 schools.
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Foodbank, Australia’s largest food relief organisation, said food insecurity is a particular problem for schoolchildren as it can lead to behavioural problems and learning difficulties, including poor concentration, fatigue and reduced attendance.
Recognising the cognitive issues that arise from hunger, governments in Britain, the United States, Japan and New Zealand provide schoolchildren with free daily meals.
The federal government does not have a history of providing free school lunches and neither Labor nor the Coalition have plans or policies to fund such a program.
The Victorian government funds the School Breakfast Clubs program through Foodbank, which provides daily meals for breakfast or lunch to children at qualifying schools.
More than 1100 state schools use the program – which has served 52 million meals so far – including 100 schools that joined last year.
In the last budget, the state government pledged to make the program available to every government school from July, allocating another $21.1 million on top of the $141.2 million invested in the program since 2016.
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“Kids can’t learn on an empty stomach – that’s why as part of a world-class education we’re giving students a free, healthy breakfast before school every day in the Education State,” said Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll.
The Coalition took a school lunches policy to the last state election.
In response to questions about whether the party would make the same promise at the 2026 poll, education spokeswoman Jess Wilson blamed Labor for the rising cost of living.
“Every student deserves the best opportunity to learn and reach their full potential and targeted support in this area has an important role to play,” she said.
For now, Galea continues to make cheese toasties and provide nutritious snacks to hungry kids, just as he did from his mother’s kitchen bench in 2013.
“The need has grown, but so has our resolve,” Galea said. “Until every child has the food they need to thrive at school, we’ll keep delivering lunches.”
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