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Warming hearts with wholesome soup

Schools

For many preschoolers, it can be hard to differentiate between wants and needs. But for students in Blackfriars’ Early Learning Centre Purple Room, that differentiation has become a little easier and has culminated in a very special charity donation.

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“For our ELC students, as with most preschool-aged children, they might think they need that chocolate bar, or need those hot chips, but the reality is quite different,” Purple Room teacher Michelle McGinty said.

Eliza with some fresh vegies.

“We’ve talked a lot to the children about basic needs, such as a roof over our head, somewhere safe to spend the night and a warm meal, particularly in this cold weather, and how lucky we are to have those things.

“We talked about how some people just don’t have those basic needs. And we talked about how we might be able to help those less fortunate than ourselves.”

The Purple Room students last week visited the Adelaide Central Market to buy ingredients for chicken vegetable soup.

They spent the following day making the soup, complete with additional vegetables from the ELC garden. They then donated the soup to Fred’s Van.

Vinnies SA’s Fred’s Van meal service supports people experiencing poverty and/or homelessness. It operates at eight sites across Adelaide, including the CBD and Kilburn locally.

“Making the soup and donating it to Fred’s Van was just so meaningful for the Purple Room boys and girls,” Mrs McGinty said. “They just got it.”

ELC student Luca said: “We helped people and it made our hearts happy.”

Hugo at the market

Teresa Branch, coordinator of Fred’s Van, last week called into the ELC to collect the soup.

“The young students were so lovely and enthusiastic. It was … quite an amazing effort and achievement,” Ms Branch said.

“The soup was used on our City Fred’s Van on Saturday night and we took that out with other items of food, including hot sausages, sandwiches, fruit and drinks.

“We served 60 people on that cold night, and the soup was really appreciated.

“It was a warm and nutritious addition to our meal, so thank you, all, for providing that to our City Fred’s Van service.”

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