Community & Business
12 February, 2021
Hungry Pug fills tummy's and minds at school
Thanks to the generosity of the Mareeba community, a local café has been able to supply Mareeba State Primary School with emergency lunches for the entire school year.
By Ellie Fink
Thanks to the generosity of the Mareeba community, a local café has been able to supply Mareeba State Primary School with emergency lunches for the entire school year.
With the new school year back in full swing, owners of the The Hungry Pug in Mareeba, Simon and Victoria Crosby dedicated themselves to providing lunch every day for students as well as donating stationery supplies.
The idea came about with a simple Facebook post where Mrs Crosby asked customers what should be done with their monthly tips.
“Every month we have our community tip jar that we spend on community organisations,” she said.
“One of our customers suggested doing a stationery drive for kids who don’t have the supplies.
“We contributed about $300 and the customers through the tip jar donated about $1000.”
Families in Mareeba were able to drop off school supplies to the store or contribute tips, which all went towards to the drive.
The Hungry Pug had previously been involved with Mareeba Primary School by providing sandwiches and wraps to the school's emergency lunch program.
The program started as a part of the school’s student welfare hub where students can be provided with lunch by the school when they need it most.
“We had been providing lunches previously and we thought, what can we do to make a really big impact in the new year,” Mrs Crosby said.
“We thought, let's set ourselves a challenge, bite the bullet, and provide lunch every day for about 20 kids for the whole year.”
The lunches are made fresh every morning and picked up by the school around 7:30am and provided to students in the case of an emergency.
MSS Acting Principal Hannah Simpson expressed her gratitude for these donations as students begin to utilise them.
“We are very lucky to have these donations from the Hungry Pug and such thoughtful families that have made a huge difference in our student’s learning,” she said.
“The emergency lunches began Wednesday, February 3 and we sent out stationery packs to students on Friday January 22 who need it most.”
MSS students can be provided with emergency lunches and stationery supplies from their student wellbeing hub if they are ever in need.
