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Project Dignity is an unfunded emergency relief initiative providing essential food and hygiene supplies to support people in real need. Project Dignity now provides high-quality food and basic essentials to children and families at local early learning centres, schools and youth centres in Perth North Metropolitan’s most health-disadvantaged suburbs. Project Dignity aligns with the West Metro District Leadership Groups priority focus area of Food Insecurity and secondary focus areas of Early Years Education.
 

• In July 2022, Sudbury House launched Project Dignity to address financial hardship, housing crises and food insecurity issues as volumes of individuals and families kept presenting at our front door.

• In 2023, Project Dignity distributed 20,688kg of relief food to support 2,586 families; 10,344 individuals; and 2,603 children.

• Within Project Dignity model, people from adverse life backgrounds are engaged within a socially-supported-employment development model to assist with delivering the service. Eleven women, impacted by family violence, were engaged and supported through this service in order to increase their career prospects.

• 2024 Expansion.  Project Dignity shifted to focus on community empowerment via targeting vulnerable children and youth. Via collaboration with Early Learning Centre’s, Schools, Youth Centre’s, and Community Groups we currently supply essential food to 1,601 families/individuals weekly.

• The degree of need demonstrated through the service has increased by *519.1% in a 2-year period.

• We are on track to more than double our food distribution for the year.

• https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/am/hungry-kids-in-australia-s-richest-state/103962162

Girraween Senior High School is one of the schools connected to Project Dignity. Girraween Senior High School Chaplain, Helen Hames, spends a lot of her time at the school preparing food for hungry students. She says, if the kids haven’t got enough to eat, they can’t learn. “Many of the kids at school have told me their parents are not buying fruit anymore because they can’t afford it. We get fruit and vegetables from Sudbury House and that goes straight out to the kids. Pretty much any fruit we get, it’s gone straight away.

Kids and families are hungry and doing it tough right now. We’ve transformed Project Dignity to now provide high-quality food and basic essentials to children and families at local early learning centres, schools and youth centres in Perth North Metropolitan’s most health-disadvantaged suburbs. We’re doing our best to help children, young people and families grow up healthier but we need more help as there is a huge demand for the food and supplies. Healthy food improves education success for children. Out here, in the northern suburbs of Perth, we are seeing many hard-working families just one payment away from losing their accommodation and they simply can’t afford to put food on the table, or in the lunchbox.

Jody Rynski, Community Support Worker at Nollamara Primary School, says: “The need to support children with food has increased significantly over the last few years as families struggle with the rising cost of living. Being able to support children and families in this way positively impacts on their wellbeing and ability to engage in learning opportunities at school. Our partnership with Sudbury House has greatly increased our capacity to really make a difference.”