Fresh Food Fair Wrap 

After spending the week finalising costs, bills and completing finances we look forward to announcing our final fundraising amount from our Fresh Food Fair to our school community at our assembly next Friday.

We just want to send out a MASSIVE THANK YOU to the Surfside community for such a successful evening for the 2024 Fresh Food Fair. So many endless hours of organisation, planning and support go into making it all happen and it is such a wonderful opportunity to come together as a school community to celebrate our work, our programs and most of all our connection. It was so lovely to see students, staff, parents, carers, grandparents, friends, past students and other school families to come together and connect. I believe that Surfside’s first ever principal Mr Lindsay Fisher popped in for a curry and a trek around the fair.

There are so many people to thank to make an event like this happen and as a school we are so grateful for the support we received leading up to the event, during the event and after the event on Monday for the big clean up!!

Firstly I want to personally thank Stacey O’Keefe who is our event organiser. Her organisation, support, communication and most of all patient nature goes such a long way to making everyone feel so valued in their contribution to the event. On behalf of Surfside - THANK YOU Stacey!!

To our sponsors and supporters who donated prizes we are thankful as this goes such a long way to making the event happen and continued support of our programs at Surfside.

Our Fresh Food Fair committee have gone above and beyond at every opportunity to support all of the pre organisation, the sponsorship packages, prizes and key coordination roles on and after the day. We are thankful for our parent and carer assistance and welcome anyone who wants to assist with the 2024 event.

To the Surfside staff we thank you for helping bring so much of the day together for students and families. Working all day and evening and giving your time away from your families does not go unnoticed. The endless smiles, support and opportunities for connection is a year long job and we love that we get to celebrate this as a community.

To all of our volunteers who helped in so many ways prior to and during the event we are so grateful for the support you provide. There were parents, carers, uncles, aunties, grandparents, cousins, ex-students, former staff, friends, community members and so many more. There were endless hours on the BBQ, in the kitchen, face painting, in the bar, helping in the garden and so much more. It was a massive evening and it was tiring work but there was plenty of laughter, smiles and support of each other. A highlight was that we had a group of teenage cousins (of a Surfside family)that were from Wangaratta who made their way down on the train in the morning to attend the fair and were there until the end and helping cleaning up. I feel that this is a true example of connection and community.

The entertainment was of such high quality and we hope you had an opportunity to appreciate the talents of current students, ex-students, parents and friends. A big thank you to Mr Morzinek and Mr Murphy for supporting this opportunity for our community. To the parents and ex-students who performed for us we are so grateful to you for giving up your time but most of all allowing us to share your talents - you are amazing!!!

The food is always a highlight and we are so thankful to our kitchen & garden crew (Fleur & Clancey) and the students and many volunteers who prepared so many of the culinary delights that we had on offer. The majority of the food that is made and served on the night is all prepared by our school community and does truely showcase what the event is all about - Fresh Food! A couple of students did share with me that they have organised a special visitor soon to come out and see our garden and I also hear that we will also be the recipients of another amazing award for our kitchen & garden program! Again that is why we run the Fresh Food Fair to support such a wonderful program. 

Most of all we want to thank our students. Each and every day Surfside Primary School has the sole purpose of building capacity in our students. Teaching and learning, engagement and wellbeing and purposeful connection is what we aim for. However, to run an event that has 24 class stalls that are run by the students, together with staff and the Surfside community brings us so much joy to see such successful outcomes. It is such a rich learning and engagement experience for our students. Seeing so much joy at the rides, the stalls, the food stalls and just searching around the white elephant stall for a pre loved toy is what the evening is all about. It is amazing that we raise some much needed funds but to provide our students with such a positive experience each and every year is the total highlight.

I do want to finish (if you got this far) to highlight that the Surfside Kitchen & Garden program (the building, the garden, the produce, the staff, ovens, utensils, etc) receives no funding from the state government or the department of education. This program is 100% funded by the school community through events such as the Fresh Food Fair. Our continued fundraising success and support from our families will not only allow for the continued engagement opportunities for students but will now allow for the re-surfacing of our basketball court, a new playground and some much needed upgrades around the school. We are fully aware of the continued cost of living pressures for families and that is why we are so grateful for the support. We also want to support our community when in need and it is important that if a family ever needs support please drop in and see one of our team. 

For all of the reasons and actions above we say THANK YOU SURFSIDE!

Friends & Family

Food & Garden

Entertainment and Surfside’s Got Talent

Community & Connection

Fun & Joy