As Australian schools open their gates this week for another year, Kellogg Australia has pledged to donate a minimum of two million serves of cereal in 2014 through its Breakfasts for Better Days program, the equivalent of feeding 10,000 kids each school day.

The rate of children skipping what many agree to be the most important meal of the day is now one in every seven, according to the latest CensusAtSchool data from the ABS¹. This year, over half a million Aussie kids can be expected to arrive for their first day at school with an empty tummy². That is equal to about two hungry kids in every classroom across the nation³.
The commitment of a minimum two million serves through the program is just one important part of Kellogg’s Breakfasts for Better Days hunger relief initiative, which will provide 12 million serves of cereal and snacks to families and children in need in Australia and one billion serves across the world by the end of 2016.

Nitin Vig who leads the free school breakfast program at Kellogg Australia says, “Our program exists to support children in need by helping to ensure they have the best start to their day possible, but to see one in seven children skipping breakfast remains a concern for the community at large.”

Kellogg Australia supplies free cereal through the program to 300 schools, sporting clubs, community groups and childcare facilities, as well as to outback, indigenous and disadvantaged communities, to ensure that kids who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to enjoy breakfast are receiving the essential nutrients they need to set them up for the day ahead.
Accredited Practising Dietitian Glenn Cardwell has recently analysed the latest research from Australia and around the world on the impact of breakfast, and said it was disturbing to see so many children skipping this important meal.

“There’s no doubt that breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” Mr Cardwell said. “We need to make it a top priority for those children who choose to skip and rescue it for those children in need who simply can’t access breakfast for economic reasons.

“The Breakfasts for Better Days program reaches out to thousands of children all of whom could have a better learning experience and life experience for that matter by starting their day with breakfast. For just a 10-minute time investment a child can be better nourished, be in better health and have a healthier body weight.”

Through the Breakfasts for Better Days hunger relief initiative, last year alone Kellogg Australia provided over three million serves of cereal to children in schools and families in need across the country.

Do you know a school or community group in need?
Do you know a school or community group that would benefit from participating in Kellogg’s free school breakfast program? If so, find out more about participating in the program and signing up at www.kelloggs.com.au/en_AU/BreakfastBuddies.html or printing it off to be filled out by your school. Alternatively you can contact the Kellogg’s Consumer Contact Centre on 1800 000 474.

For more information about Breakfasts for Better Days, visit www.kelloggcompany.com.

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References:

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) CensusAtSchool Australia (2013)

2. ABS, 3235.0 - Populations by age and sex, regions of Australia (2012)

3. ABS (1997) 4802.0 - National Nutrition Survey, Selected Highlights, Australian, 1995