Volunteers from the Greek Fest Victoria society served a Greek lunch to the entire Tillicum elementary school student body, teachers and staff on Thursday (May 21).
It’s the fifth year running the people of Greek Fest have stepped up and served the meal, a celebration of their support for Tillicum’s lunch program, which ensures a balanced meal for those children in need.
“We partner with the Victoria Hellenic Ladies Auxiliary by providing funding for the Tillicum lunch program,” said Tim Petropoulos, treasurer of the Victoria Greek Community.
More than 320 students and staff enjoy the lunch. The meals are served by the plate, though for the kindergarten and kindergarten/Grade 1 split classes the food is served on platters, which minimizes waste.
“I’ve never had Greek food,” was a common refrain heard from students in the lineup for food.
Some students even passed up the Greek meal, opting for the lunch program’s shepherd’s pie.
After the lunch, the Greek Fest and Hellenic Ladies gave $1,000 to the Tillicum lunch program for the coming year.
“It’s one of numerous community groups we support each year from the funds raised during the annual Greek Fest (which runs the last two weekends in August),” Petropoulos said.
“It’s a great cause, when our community learned just how many students go to school without a proper breakfast or lunch, we were shocked. As a board, we really felt we needed to act and offer some much needed help.”
Visit greekfest.ca for more information.
reporter@saanichnews.com