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 Galeafounded Eat UpAustralia inShepparton inregional Victoria.

LYNDON GALEAEat Up

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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 feedtheir kids and no onewants to see theirchildren go without, butvarying distressingcircumstances result intimes where this isunavoidable. Eat Upoperates so that onthese occasions, no childwill have to go withoutfood.”

MORE INFORMATION:

Read ‘New free lunch program

‘wonderful’, say schools’ in The

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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

immediately and the growth to my initiative was instant.”

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