Overview

It's a well know fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, for a number of reasons a significant number of children attend school without breakfast. Y-Care (South East Qld) Inc. the benevolent arm of the YMCA Of Brisbane, in partnership with Education Queensland, Foodbank Queensland and the Clem Jones Group commenced the YMCA Schools' Breakfast Program with five state schools in September 2006.

The program today provides on average 16,000 free breakfasts each month to school students within 26 state schools, and the YMCA's very own non-state school. The benefits of this program is that students commence the school day after a healthy breakfast which will contribute to more effective learning that is so critical to students' educational' success and performance at school.

Thanks to the support of our sponsors the YMCA Schools' Breakfast program was also able to assist a further 13 Schools, and two charitable organisations to run their own food/breakfast programs during 2011. 

Approximate Number of Free Breakfast Served 

• 21,916 across five schools during 2006
• 105,575 across 19 schools during 2007
• 147,504 across 24 schools during 2008
• 148,416 across 26 schools during 2009
• 177,970 across 27 schools during 2010
• 178,667 across 27 schools during 2011 

Approximately 803,127 breakfast meals have been served since commencement in 2006.

Effectiveness of the Breakfast Program

The YMCA Schools' Breakfast Program continues to effectively provide nutritious breakfasts to children from low income families. Participating schools have reported improvements in student's, attendance, behavior, socialisation and concentration in class.

A culmination of comments from some of the Principals and Teachers are that: "it is a wonderful and enormously beneficial program that provides a safe and welcoming environment for students, which helps to build lifelong social skills. All too often students come to school very hungry, some students come from a very dysfunctional background, at times there may be no food at home, and consequently they are unable to concentrate in class. The breakfast program provides vital sustenance to growing children, it settles the students down in class, and they are more attentive, responsive and ready to learn. Breakfast is also crucial to the re-engagement process, and keeping students engaged. Behaviour data indicates that students are less disruptive on the days breakfast is provided".

The YMCA Schools Breakfast Program is dedicated to ensuring that no child is denied the opportunity to enjoy breakfast at the participating schools.

Volunteers

Volunteers are crucial to the successful running of the YMCA Schools' Breakfast Program. Over 100 volunteers collectively dedicate over 160 hours per week within in the 27 school within the program. These volunteer numbers and hours do not include the school chaplains, numerous teachers and students who also assist with the serving of breakfast.

Food Warehouse

 Part of the new YMCA premises in Mary St, Kingston has been set aside as a warehouse and provides much needed food storage for the School breakfast program and to support other school breakfast and lunch programs. The warehouse is fitted out with a 'drive in' cold room, pallet racking and a forklift, so that it can also serve as a training centre for young people seeking to gain employability skills.

YMCA EXPANDS ITS SUPPORT

The YMCA Breakfast Program is expanding its support of school students by supporting other schools to run their own breakfast programs. Areas in South East Qld that will be eligible to apply for food donations are: all Logan suburbs, Acacia Ridge, Coorparoo, Forest Lake, Goodna, Inala, Oxley and surrounding suburbs. Interested schools are able to contact the YMCA Schools' Breakfast Coordinator for more information via PH: (07) 3440 4307 or Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sponsors and Supporters

On behalf of the YMCA, participating schools and children, we would like to thank our very generous sponsors and dedicated volunteers who have contributed significantly to the programs success. Thank you so much.

Click here for more information on how our sponsors support us