Gowrie St Primary School came together on Thursday, October 20 to provide a barbecue to those who needed assistance after the peak of the Shepparton floods.
The school in Shepparton North is in one of the areas most affected by the flooding, with many of its students and families being cut off for several days.
Heather Fryer was one such parent — she was trapped with her daughter Heather-Maree Cripps-O’Shea.
“There was a fair bit of anxiety,” Mrs Fryer said.
“My little girl is 10 and she was very anxious, and she was listening to the news and she’s thinking it’s going to get really bad and we’re going to get flooded out and have to evacuate.”
Mrs Fryer found out about the barbecue via the school email system. She thought it was a great idea that the school was taking the safety and wellbeing of its students and the wider school community so seriously.
Year 2 student Violette Cornish was at Thursday’s barbecue. She got stuck into a chicken sandwich, which she thought was delicious. For her the day was about relaxing, as the school was, unsurprisingly, not operating as it usually would.
In addition to barbecue chicken, sausages, salads and hot drinks were also on offer.
Gowrie St Primary School principal Eron Chapman said the barbecue was just an extension of the care the school provided to its students and their families, and it also helped gauge the students’ individual situations.
“A lot of them were either in the evacuation zone or inundation zone,” she said.
“And we just thought if we could get them to come down, we could get them some food and just kind of get them together.”
Non-perishables and fresh fruit and vegetables were laid out in a nearby room for those needing supplies. The food was donated by various groups including Foodbank, FoodShare and the school’s breakfast club, and also came from the school’s garden.
Mrs Chapman said families were welcome to collect what they needed during school hours.
The school itself didn’t escape the flood unscathed, with the grounds flooded, although none of the buildings were affected.
Some of the staff were trapped in Mooroopna while some others had their homes inundated.