Our mission is to feed hungry kids so that they can learn, grow and succeed.
With the help of our partners and dedicated volunteers, each week we make and deliver thousands of fresh sandwiches and donated snacks directly to schools for the 1 in 5 Aussie kids experiencing hunger.
In 2013 , Eat Up Founder, Lyndon was living in his hometown of Shepparton and read a story in the paper about how local kids were going to school without lunch. He quickly enlisted the help of his mum and a couple of mates and started making sandwiches to drop off at these schools. From grassroots beginnings, Eat Up is now Australia's only organisation providing free lunches for students on a national scale. Our sustainable approach is thanks to ongoing donations of bread, snacks and materials. Volunteers and donations have been key to our growth, from supporting 20 regional Victorian schools in 2014, to now reaching 750+ schools in NSW, NT, QLD, VIC and WA.
About Childhood Hunger
1 in 5 students at the schools we support need an Eat Up lunch*
In 2020, the demand for food relief services in Australia has increased by 47% due to the effects of the COVID pandemic.**
Sources:
*Eat Up Learn, Grow and Succeed Report, 2022 **Foodbank Hunger Report 2020
Kids who miss meals have:
Poorer physical health
Increased illness
Increase fatigue
Poorer nutrition
Missing vitamins minerals & fibre
Poorer social/emotional wellbeing
Increased behavioural and learning problems
Struggle to learn, concentrate and succeed in school
Our Impact
To date we have provided:
Over 3 million lunches
To date, we’ve provided over 3 million free lunches to students throughout Australia.
750+ schools
Our programs across NSW, VIC, QLD, WA and NT, are helping more than six hundred schools and thousands of hungry students.
20,000+ food relief boxes
During the COVID-19 pandemic we have helped over twenty thousand families with food relief boxes.
The Eat Up Effect
Feedback from our schools
“We’ve got one boy that comes up sometimes [for an Eat Up sandwich] and you’ll say “where’s your sister?” and he’ll say “I made her lunch but I haven’t got any”. He’s in Grade 1.... that sort of stuff goes on a bit”
“...there’s that anxiety around I’m starving. I’ve got nothing in my lunch box, I’ve got no food, how am I going to survive the day...we can see an instant turn around in the kids engagement and learning”
"You are making such a big difference to the lives of our students and the sanity of our staff. How fantastic is it, for staff to provide needed students with a scrumptious lunch quickly and with dignity for our children."
“We’ve had some students say there’s no food in the cupboard at home, I need to eat a sandwich before I leave [school to go home] or I won’t eat anything until the next day”