Free lunch goes down a treat

What does it take to feed 240 hungry children (and a few extra adults)?

According to Buddhi Wilcox, from the Whangarei Food for Life Centre, it requires 80 litres of milk; 10kg of pasta; 5kg of tomato paste; 10kg or potatoes; 20kg of carrots; 10kg of cheese; 12 cauliflowers; 20kg of apples; bags of flour "and a whole heap of other stuff".

On Wednesday the centre put on a free hot lunch for students, staff, a few parents and invited guests at Whangarei's Manaia View School. Mr Wilcox said the centre was about promoting a healthy, meat-free diet and had support from the community and businesses to provide the free lunch at the school every Wednesday.

Principal Leanne Otene said it was the responsibility of all New Zealanders to ensure they had what they needed to maximise their learning ability, and that included healthy food.

Labour MP Shane Jones said the lunch made the children healthy and happy if the smiles on their faces were anything to go by, but it was a shame a community group had to provide the lunch at the low-decile school.

"It's a tragedy that the ideology that drives this Government appears deaf, dumb and blind to what's really happening in our community because of its austerity measures," he said.

Manaia Primary Health Organisation boss Chris Farrelly said food was one of the most important issues in terms of public health.

"This is an initiative from the community saying we can feed our children healthy food together," he said.

For more pictures from the free lunch see the online gallery at www.northernadvocate.co.nz