PARENTS and friends of Siena Catholic College, Caloundra, have been cooking up a storm.
P and F Association president Jo Duffy said 25 volunteers put the college’s home economics kitchen to good use on February 18 to prepare and then freeze 240 meals for the new Siena Food Bank.
Mrs Duffy said the idea originated from a Year 1 parent.
“We have gone away from fundraising and into building community through events and reaching out to those in need,” she said.
“The idea for the food bank came from Chris Pervis, the mum of a Year 1 student in the primary school, and we have followed the model of another Sunshine Coast school to get the idea up and running.”
Mrs Duffy said when Siena community members were in need it was often parents of their classmates who were the first to know and lend their support where it was needed.
“But we really didn’t have any organised way to reach out to families in need,” she said.
Mrs Duffy said the college held an annual race day that, although good for building community and free to families, did raise funds and the P and F wanted to channel money back to people in need or who just needed a lift.
She said the P and F served the primary and secondary Siena campuses, and the cooking day was a great opportunity to bring together parents of students from Prep to Year 12.
“The day was a beautiful combination of laughter, storytelling and reflections of families we knew were in need but also the thought of helping people we hadn’t yet met,” she said.
Mrs Duffy said there were eight different offerings on the food bank menu, including cakes, that would be available for the college chaplain to take during home visits.
“We seem to have a lot of mums around with cancer at the moment and I know when my own father was dying how grateful and touched I was to have someone just drop in with a meal,” she said.
