By Callum Ludwig
The Rotary Club of Wandin has come together for its annual apple distribution to local schools.
Each year since 2019, the Rotarians have hand-packed and delivered one kilogram of apples to each student and staff member at a number of local schools.
Rotarians Gavan McIntyre and Paul Martin said this year they will be delivering another 1200 bags of apples.
“They’ll be going to Yering, Coldstream, Wandin North, Wandin Yallock, Seville, Woori Yallock, Hoddles Creek and Silvan,” Mr Martin said.
“About 30 people have turned up (to help), some have been and gone, and we’re just blown away because the club does not have many members but it’s the partners, friends and some other community members who have turned up as well,”
“We think that especially leading into Christmas where a lot of families in the Yarra Valley are under financial stress, this is just a small way we can go towards providing in the month of December something that would just take a little bit of pressure off each family’s budget, but equally provide our young folk with some healthy apples.”
The Rotarians and support were hard at work on Wednesday 4 December at Old Oak Orchards, packing the apples offered at a generous rate by Gavin and Andrew Corbett into bags generously donated by Glenn Barker of Yarra Valley Packaging.
Mr McIntyre said it’s also a very important opportunity to teach kids about the local growers in the Yarra Valley.
“I think it’s very important that they realise that apples don’t just appear in the supermarket, they’re grown, they’re stored, they’re packed, they’re transported to market and then come back to the shop, it’s a big circle really so this helps them understand,” he said.
“Hopefully the teachers will give them a bit of a talk when they get these apples tomorrow, explaining how lucky they are to be getting the apples and it’s just so important also that the kids also learn that the best food is that which is grown locally and that they can get less than 20 kilometres from where they live.”
The annual apple donation has already left a lasting impression on some local students in previous years with Wandin North Primary School student Jake citing it as one of his main motivators to do a fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Wandin.
Part of Jake’s fundraiser recently led to a water well being installed in a remote village in Cambodia.
Originally expecting to be packing later into the evening, the great turnout from Rotarians and supporters led to the crew ‘bolting’ it in and finishing off the day’s work with a barbecue.
