By Tanya Steele
High school students recently munched their way into a toasted sandwich milestone 15 years in the making.
The breakfast club at Healesville Highschool celebrated the milestone of 50,000 ‘toasties’ delivered on Wednesday 2 August.
Kerry Davies is one of the volunteers who has been with the club since its inception and said it runs with the help of a united group force of education support staff.
“It’s been really good, the kids look forward to it, they know it’s on,” she said.
“We meet every Wednesday and get the sandwich presses going, it is fully funded by the school.”
Student Archie received the ‘gold star’ toastie amidst a shower of gold confetti and a gift voucher to celebrate the hot and cheesy breakfast celebration.
The breakfast club operates in collaboration with the school nurse Claire who picks up bread from Bakers Delight in Chirnside Park and the economics department which provides the essential cheese and serviettes.
The students have told Ms Davies the club is good if they forget breakfast and some cheekily confessed it was good even if they hadn’t.
Student Marley looks forward to getting a little extra sleep on Wednesdays.
Ms Davies said the operation is well oiled and said that she always asks the students to say please when they get their breakfast.
The club began in 2008 and was started by Lyn Schotchmoor who is the Wellbeing Coordinator.
“She thought there was a lot of need to give the kids a regular breakfast and she put a call out, I said yes,” she said.
No two weeks are the same at the Breakfast Club and Ms Davies said that the trade school students are also known to pop in.
“It’s been successful, we based the 50,000 off around 100 sandwiches per session,” she said.
“We have a bit of fun.”
Ms Davies said the connections between the club volunteers and the students make the whole experience incredibly worthwhile.
“One of our staff who has since gone to work at Oonah still comes every Wednesday to do the club with us,” she said.
The students who use the service regularly appreciate the warm and delicious start to their school day.
Two of the year 12 students, twin sisters Liana and Felicity have been using the service the whole time they have been at the high school.
“I remember the day when they started to say thank you,” Ms Davies said.
Ms Davies has a reputation for saying “Where’s your manners ?” at the school and has been given the ‘Where’s your manners ‘ award by the students in the past.
The volunteers put on a cheese or cheese tomato option along with a milo and the club has created a hearty meal option along with a lot of heart behind it for the students.
“I’ll be doing this forever,” Ms Davies said.
