1. When Lyndon Galea realised kids in his hometown of
Shepparton in Victoria were going hungry, he didn’t give it a
second thought to take action. After getting in contact with local
school principals to identify schools in immediate need, 3 weeks
later he found himself surrounded by empty glad wrap boxes
making and packing over 100 lunches a week for two local
Lyndon Galea
founded Eat Up
Australia in
Shepparton in
regional Victoria.
LYNDON GALEA
Eat Up
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2. schools.
Inspiration was then found in the form of Russell O’Halloran, the
leader of Shepparton Foodshare network. He encouraged
Lyndon (pictured above, second from the left) to collaborate
with Foodbank, a charity that rescues surplus food from farmers
and retailers, and supplies it for free to charitable organisations.
By leveraging Foodbank’s Australia-wide distribution outlets,
Lyndon became determined that as many as possible hungry
kids would be fed for free, and his enterprise Eat Up was born.
“The strongest feeling I got delivering our Ҕrst lunches was that
it was so easy and there was no grand barrier or cost,” said
Lyndon.
Eat Up identiҔes vulnerable children in schools who are facing
food insecurity; the children of parents who are welfare
dependent, unemployed, newly arrived refugees, Aboriginal,
impacted by domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and
mental illness.
Lyndon noticed that the need for Eat Up emergency lunches
sharply increased a few days before fortnightly welfare
payments arrived.
“Parents want to feed their kids and no one wants to see their
children go without, but varying distressing circumstances result
in times where this is unavoidable. Eat Up operates so that on
these occasions, no child will have to go without food.”
After hearing stories of teachers spending their own money on
kids who come to school without food, Lyndon believes Eat Up
will also play a role in relieving pressures on school staҔ
networks.
Since starting in early 2013, the enterprise has grown to partner
with TAFE providers, whose students in the Culinary Department
now voluntarily handle the preparation and packaging of Eat Up
“Parents want to feed
their kids and no one
wants to see their
children go without, but
varying distressing
circumstances result in
times where this is
unavoidable. Eat Up
operates so that on
these occasions, no child
will have to go without
food.”
MORE INFORMATION:
Read ‘New free lunch program
‘wonderful’, say schools’ in The
Age
Visit Eat Up on Facebook
3. meals. Over 500 lunches a month – a sandwich, a piece of fruit
and a snack – are currently prepared for kids in schools
in Shepparton, Bendigo and inner Melbourne.
Lyndon also works part-time with Oz Harvest, Australia’s leading
food rescue charity who source quality surplus food and
distribute it to people in need while diverting food waste from
landҔll. Now partnering with him to assist with Eat Up’s
distribution logistics, Lyndon is one step closer to achieving his
vision of taking the enterprise national.
A shared vision with like-minded collaborators are key to
growing the enterprise and oҔering a long-term sustainable
solution to alleviating hunger in kids, Lyndon believes.
Lyndon feels incredibly lucky to have grown up in regional
Victoria and with the Eat Up model proving so successful to
date, Eat Up is delivering across four primary schools in Bendigo
and has now launched into inner Melbourne. To date, Eat Up
has delivered almost 10,000 lunches.
When Lyndon connected with the Social Enterprise Group at his
University, RMIT, he was excited to Ҕnd out School for Social
Entrepreneurs Australia was taking applicants for its Bendigo
Social Change 101 Program in 2014.
“I couldn’t have been more inspired after learning about the
school and the incredible projects SSE Australia students have
initiated. All of the teachers and guest speakers were incredibly
inspiring and delivered their gems in a practical and accessible
manner.
My SSE assigned local mentor, Vanessa Hicks, has been the
instrumental driver in taking Eat Up from a simple idea with a
dream to spread nationally, to now having developed a plan,
strategy and timeline to do so.
“The beneҔts to Eat Up in the SSE program were enormous. All
of the lessons were so powerful in that they were actionable
