Yass Rotary: A Story to Warm Your Heart

Here’s a little story about a small country town school along with a Rotary Club that are doing big things to warm your heart.

For those that aren’t up to speed with the Yass Public School brekkie happenings - let us enlighten you. For some time, Principal Michelle Fahey along with teaching staff witnessed children attending school without nutritious start to the day and concluded that this affected their ability to concentrate and learn and affected their overall demeanour throughout the day.

The free brekkie initiative was therefore implemented, giving the children the opportunity to enjoy a bowl of cereal, juice, hot chocolate and toast, all prior to school bell at 9am. Although this initiative is teacher supervised, senior children are responsible for the delivery and tidying, and this responsibility has been a boost to student morale and has seen student attendance improve.

Over the years the breakfast has been supported by local businesses and parents of the school. Earlier this year Rotary was approached for assistance to keep this important initiative up and running - and they jumped at the opportunity.

In May 2021 Rotary handed over a cheque for $1,400 to contribute to the purchase of groceries for the rest of the year. However, it was noted that the dishwasher and toaster are fast wearing out and need replacement.

The Rotary Club of Yass submitted an application for funding to replace these items with Rotary District, as these grants are decided upon by the board and announced in early July. The good news is that the application was successful and so another cheque for $3,150 has been handed to the Yass Public School kitchen for the appliances, which will be purchased locally keeping the money in town, win-win. On top of this, the Glenlothian Foundation has also made a generous contribution of $1,400.

Our Rotarians work hard to raise money and it feels so good to hand it over to worthy causes, so a big thank you goes to Rotary, the Yass Valley community, and Yass Public School.

If you would like to be a part of a driven supportive team that gives back to our community, reach out to Rotary at yassrotary@gmail.com. New members are always welcome.

Written by Mandy Wade

• Topics:

• Rotary
• Community
• Fundraiser
• Education / Training