The Australian Red Cross and Fitzroy Primary School students will join together to officially launch the Good Start Breakfast Club on Friday 9 September at 8.15am.

The program, run in partnership with Sanitarium, is designed to provide a healthy breakfast for students who may otherwise go without, whilst raising awareness of the importance of good nutrition.

Nutritionists believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and many reports state that up to 30 per cent of Australian children miss out on breakfast at home. These figures are believed to be higher in schools in disadvantaged areas.

The obesity epidemic is affecting more and more Australians, and evidence suggests that children who miss out on a healthy breakfast are more likely to suffer from obesity later in life. Similarly, children who miss breakfast are less able to concentrate, more prone to fidgeting and find learning difficult by mid-morning.

The Good Start Breakfast Club was designed to combat these issues. Trained Australian Red Cross volunteers donate about an hour of their time each week, to help primary school students prepare breakfast of cereal, toast, fruit and yoghurt.

At Fitzroy Primary the volunteers are all staff of KPMG.  KPMG allow their staff the time off work to participate in the Good Start Breakfast Club.  It is an incredibly rewarding experience for the volunteers and a very generous contribution from KPMG to help ensure that the kids at Fitzroy primary can achieve their best.\

Australian Red Cross Victoria Executive Director Andrew Hilton said: 'This vital service works towards encouraging children to develop social and living skills, and volunteers are crucial to its success.'