Learn how Rotary Club of Litchfield/Palmerston members have made more than 21,000 cheese sandwiches to help improve student outcomes.

During the past two years (2021 – 2022) the members of the Rotary Club of Litchfield/Palmerston have made more than 21,000 cheese sandwiches and delivered them to eight local schools, to help ensure students don't go hungry at school. 

Launched in the Northern Territory by the Rotary Club of Litchfield/Palmerston in February 2021, in collaboration with Eat Up Australia, members embraced this great project and together have celebrated birthdays and wedding anniversaries all while participating in the sessions making simple cheese sandwiches. They became known as "Team NT". 

The Rotary Club, in collaboration with Eat Up Australia has provided cheese sandwiches every three weeks, at no cost to the students or schools, to eight (8) schools in the City of Palmerston and Litchfield Municipality since the start of 2021. 

Team NT comes together on a Sunday afternoon to prepare, stack, wrap and pack the sandwiches and four members of the club deliver the freshly packed individual sandwiches early on the Monday morning to the eight schools. 

On average, the club provides 1,160 cheese sandwiches to the eight schools every three weeks for their students who come to school without any breakfast or lunch. Not having breakfast or lunch can lead to fatigue, problems concentrating, disruptive behaviour and poor learning outcomes. Many of the children come from homes experiencing financial hardship.

The staff freeze the sandwiches and provide a cheese toastie to students when needed and at no cost to the school or student.  

During the past two years, the club was able to source valuable sponsorship from local businesses to purchase the bread, spread and cheese. At the beginning of 2022, Eat Up Australia was successful in acquiring Bidfood Australia as the national sponsor to donate the cheese packets around Australia for all the Eat Up Projects.

Over the past two years, the number of volunteer hours for this project is approximately 500 hours for the club's Sunday sessions and 350 hours for deliveries to the eight schools participating.

Volunteering SA & NT volunteering replacement hourly rate figure (average) for Australia is currently $46.62 per hour, based on the November 2020 to November 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) weekly earnings figures for Australia.

Based on this replacement hourly rate figures the Club has donated, by our volunteer hours, $37,627 back into the community through this project.

The club will restart this project for the 2023 School year on Sunday, 29 January, with the first prep session and delivery of the sandwiches to participating schools on Monday, 30 January in time for the students return on Tuesday, 31 January 2023, for Semester 1 - Term 1. 

The benefits of this project are not only for our young Territorians but also for our members to provide another opportunity to support and give back to the local community consistent with Rotary International’s Mission Statement:

“Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change, across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.”