While many of us were hanging out at the beach or visiting family during the Christmas holidays, the children and educators at Goodstart Kingaroy were doing the hard yards.
The kinder and pre-kinder children signed up to help look after the kitchen gardens at the local Centacare, turning worm juice in to fertiliser and making sure the fruit and vegetables survived.
Centacare Kingaroy is a community and family relationships centre which provides meals, counselling and support. The organisation relies on the work of volunteers to keep services going.
Goodstart Kingaroy centre director Peta Clarkson thought it would be a great idea for the children to learn about connecting with their community.
“Every week for six weeks, a different group of pre-kinder and kinder children went to Centacare to the community gardens to learn more about gardening,” Ms Clarkson said.
“We had a Centacare employee look after us each visit who talked about how important it was to grow the food for the community kitchen. This is where the food was cooked up and delivered to people in our community so they did not go hungry.”
After each gardening session, the team tasted the herbs growing in the gardens (chocolate mint was the favourite) and ate watermelon for morning tea.
“The children loved learning about helping other people and that the food they were helping to grow would be used for meals for others,” Ms Clarkson said.
“It’s a really great experience for them and we had a great time going there and connecting with nature.”
Four-year-old Goodstart Kingaroy student summed up her experience saying: “I did a good job today. I helped people and they won’t be hungry.”
Goodstart Kingaroy plans to continue volunteering at the centre in the year ahead.
The kinder and pre-kinder children signed up to help look after the kitchen gardens at the local Centacare, turning worm juice in to fertiliser and making sure the fruit and vegetables survived.
Centacare Kingaroy is a community and family relationships centre which provides meals, counselling and support. The organisation relies on the work of volunteers to keep services going.
Goodstart Kingaroy centre director Peta Clarkson thought it would be a great idea for the children to learn about connecting with their community.
“Every week for six weeks, a different group of pre-kinder and kinder children went to Centacare to the community gardens to learn more about gardening,” Ms Clarkson said.
“We had a Centacare employee look after us each visit who talked about how important it was to grow the food for the community kitchen. This is where the food was cooked up and delivered to people in our community so they did not go hungry.”
After each gardening session, the team tasted the herbs growing in the gardens (chocolate mint was the favourite) and ate watermelon for morning tea.
“The children loved learning about helping other people and that the food they were helping to grow would be used for meals for others,” Ms Clarkson said.
“It’s a really great experience for them and we had a great time going there and connecting with nature.”
Four-year-old Goodstart Kingaroy student summed up her experience saying: “I did a good job today. I helped people and they won’t be hungry.”
Goodstart Kingaroy plans to continue volunteering at the centre in the year ahead.