Libelle Group, an Auckland-based company, are running a pilot programme in Taita College, in which students are provided with a free and nutritious lunch each day. The programme is costing roughly $450,000 per annum for Libelle’s CEO, Johannes Tietze, and Tietze expressed the desire for funding from businesses and community support. The hope is that the success of the scheme will encourage it to be taken up around the country.
Karen Morgan, principal of Taita College, said that the evidence was overwhelming that children eating healthy and nutritional food increased their performance at school. Taita College has over 400 students, and each day they are provided with a sandwich or hot meal, fruit, a muffin, and yoghurt or milk. Each meal costs roughly $6 and Tietze proposed that if every business paid $1 a day, over 200,000 kids could be fed nationally.
The results from the trial at Taita College are being monitored electronically, as the lunches are ‘purchased’ via a swipe card which follows the kids' lunch schedule, which can then be compared to their overall performance.
More information about the project can be found at www.libelle.co.nz/.
