More kids around Australia will start their day with a healthy breakfast after our customers helped us raise more than $275,000 in support of the Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club program.
This donation brings our total contribution to the Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club since 2006 to over $1.6 million.
From 4th – 17th February, Coles donated $1 to the Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club program for every box of Coles brand cereal sold.
Proceeds raised from the campaign will go towards the continued delivery of the program, support 100 nutrition education workshops for children, parents and communities, as well as physical activity days nationwide.
Coles has been the principal supporter of the Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club since 2006 and to date – with support from our customers - we have helped to provide more than 2.75 million breakfasts to give kids the energy to learn and play.
About Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Clubs
Proper nutrition is so important for growing children and nutritionists agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That’s why Coles is proud to support the Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Club program which provides healthy breakfasts and nutrition education to primary school children across Australia.
Research has indicated that up to 40% of Australian school children skip breakfast.1 Breakfast assists children's physical, mental and emotional development. Children who miss breakfast are less able to concentrate, more prone to fidgeting and find learning difficult by mid-morning.2
Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that children who miss out on a healthy breakfast are more likely to suffer from obesity later in life.3
To combat this issue, Coles has been the principal supporter of Red Cross Good Start Breakfast Clubs since 2006 and to date, we have contributed over $1.35 million! Since the partnership began, our support has helped Red Cross provide more than 2.75 million breakfasts to school children across Australia in more than 260 breakfast clubs.
The Good Start Breakfast Club not only provides kids with a healthy breakfast but also provides an opportunity for nutrition education – both of which help to combat health problems such as diabetes and obesity later in life. We are so grateful Coles is supporting an initiative which reaches out to youth in need.'
Shaun Hazeldine, National Manager, Good Start Breakfast Club program, Australian Red Cross
Case Study – Heatherhill Primary, VIC
Heatherhill Primary School in Victoria is one of the hundreds of Breakfast Clubs supported by Coles. Not only do the Good Start Breakfast Clubs provide a nutritious breakfast daily to school children, the program is designed to teach children about nutrition and the importance of exercise and helps to strengthen the social network for children within their school community.
It’s a harmonious school and the kids mix really well. As you can tell there is a lovely atmosphere. The Breakfast Club gives the kids an informal setting to relate to adults and socialise with children of all different ages. They are very well mannered and behave so nicely to each other.’
Mary Verwey, the Principal at Heatherhill Primary, Victoria.
According to Mary, around 80% of the children at Heatherhill Primary are from non-English speaking backgrounds, with 75% of the families recipients of the education maintenance allowance for low-income households.
1Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Study, The University of Sydney, 2001
2Resincow, K. The Relationship Between Breakfast Habits and Plasma Cholesterol Levels in School Children, J. Sch Health 1991; 61:81-5, cited in Robyn E Young and Peter J Wilson, Providing Breakfast at School: the NSW Experience, Australian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics (2000) 57:2; and Pollit, E, Does breakfast make a difference in school? J Am Diet Assoc 1995; 95:1134-93, cited in Robyn E Young and Peter J Wilson, Providing Breakfast at School: the NSW Experience, Australian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics (2000) 57:2
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