Huge appetite for Making Friends with Food program at Royal Easter Show

Local advocates grateful for RAS Foundation and community’s support to boost the health and wellbeing of country kids across the North West    

Since its early beginnings in 1823, the Sydney Royal Easter Show has celebrated the country coming to the city as friends and family from the bush descend on the big smoke to share a slice of life on the land.

A time when city folk don’t have to travel too far from home to snap a selfie with an alpaca, feel the fine wool on a merino sheep’s back, learn from a farmer in the popular produce pavilion, taste the CWA’s sought-after scones, or see a rodeo rider’s talents up-close while witnessing all the thrills-and-spills in the main arena.

Of course, the country crowd revels in the show’s spectacular offerings too because there are new experiences for everyone: it’s a chance to take a break from the daily farm routine, network with like-minded people from different towns, catch-up with old mates, and even make some new ones.

Although the nail-biting competitions, buzz of sideshow alley and allure of the showbag pavilion are famous for pulling big crowds, beyond the fun and games at the show there is a unique opportunity for country advocates to spread good news stories about the bush and rally support for our vital agricultural communities.

Leading the charge at the 2024 Royal Easter Show were two local ladies from the Narrabri region: certified instructor with The Root Cause Ebonnie Whan and Royal Agricultural Society of NSW board member Jocellin Jansson.

This year, the RAS Foundation’s iconic charity brunch raised an impressive $43,000 that will see 2000 children, from the North West, experience the effective Making Friends with Food nutrition program run by The Root Cause.

“Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we almost doubled our goal of $25,000, raising over $43,000 for children in Narrabri, Wee Waa, Moree and additional outlying small schools to complete the Making Food with Friends program,” said RAS Foundation manager Cecilia Logan.

It’s no secret, mealtime and enticing children to eat food they’re not a fan of can be a battle in many households and playgrounds, so Making Friends with Food aims to be a fun and realistic nutrition program that encourages better food choices through interactive and engaging education.

“Our goal is to make food a fun experiment and empower children to build lifelong nourishing friendships with a wide variety of food, so they live a life free of chronic illness,” said founder of The Root Cause Bel Smith.

“Food is foundational to wellbeing.”

And the proof is in the pudding, with the successful health initiative showing promising results so far, following its implementation in 287 schools, with 60,197 young participants.

The tailored education program and partnerships run in schools and communities, delivering in-person workshops, seminars and training sessions pitched for different age groups, from students to parents and teachers.

The significant and sizable boost from the RAS Foundation and its supporters will allow the program’s positive impact to flourish as it reaches more schools, students, and families in 2024.

“For the Foundation, this program is a direct investment into the future of our next generation and the future wellbeing and capacity of our regional and rural communities,” said Celia Logan.

“Making Friends with Food arms children with the knowledge and practical skills to make better food choices which, in turn, has an impact on their mood, behaviour, education outcomes and overall wellbeing.

“For these communities, this knowledge can help change the way children approach food for the rest of their lives,” added Celia.
RAS board member Jocellin Jansson said fellow Narrabri local, Ebonnie Whan, was the perfect person to deliver the Making Friend with Food program in our patch.

“Ebonnie is such an outstanding educator in her professional life, there is no better person to deliver it,” said Jocellin.

“I pitched the organisation to the Foundation, and I strongly believe in this program’s ability to make a huge impact.”

One of the driving forces behind Jocellin’s strong endorsement is her desire to help improve the literacy levels of children in the Narrabri Shire, and therefore she said it was ‘a no brainer’ to back the program.

“Better food choices lead to better behaviour and learning outcomes and brighter, healthier lives,” said Jocellin.

“It is all about getting back to basics with food, getting kids to love simple nutritious food and understand how it can make them feel good and learn more. We live in an era where we can have so much processed food but eating well can not only lead to better education outcomes, but I can lead to better life outcomes.

“We are a wealthy and productive region, the fact we have low literacy levels, for me, is confounding.

“We can help kids show up better in the classroom.”

Having worked in nine primary and high schools across the district including in Wee Waa, Ebonnie said she recognised a strong link between what was happening in the classroom and what was inside lunchboxes, and decided she needed to do something about it by ‘taking a stand for children’s health’. And so, her mission to become a certified instructor with The Root Cause was activated.

“With 44 per cent of Australian children living with at least one chronic health condition, and vegetable and fruit consumption in this region decreasing since 2017, this health initiative is much needed,” said Ebonnie.

Ebonnie would be a familiar face to many readers: she’s an active community member, teacher and mum-of-two who for the last year has championed The Root Cause’s programs locally, teaching kids how good food can fuel their bodies, nourish their minds and care for that one beautiful body we have in life.

Hitting the road and travelling around the region in her Bush Kids Tucker Time wagon, Ebonnie has visited schools from Narrabri to Pilliga tempting the tastebuds of country kids to eat less packaged food and munch on more fresh and wholesome foods, one crunchy carrot stick at a time.

There’s no doubt her years of experience working in schools, and as a parent, have assisted in making her workshops a hit: she understands individual needs, isn’t patronising, and has a friendly style.

Ebonnie oozes energy and kindness, however, don’t mistake her kind nature for weakness, when she finds a project that she strongly believes will make a difference, especially to the lives of rural children, watch out – this enthusiastic educator means business and her can-do approach ensures it will be a runaway success.

“Everything that The Root Cause is about aligns with my vision, my passion, and my drive for helping to encourage and fight for a healthier generation of kids,” said Ebonnie, who juggled family, work, career, and home life while training to become a certified instructor.

Seeing a child taste a healthy new snack, ask ‘what’s in my food?’ or smile while devouring yummy bliss balls does help to make all the hard work worthwhile, but the recent recognition from the RAS Foundation is a cherry on top. Ebonnie’s rewarding role with The Root Cause will now be even more satisfying because she is able to grow the program and reach 2000 children in the country community, she proudly calls home.

“I was so thrilled to be told the RAS Foundation had chosen my work with The Root Cause to be the recipient of their annual fundraising brunch,” Ebonnie said.

“I felt it was such a great fit for our messaging around eating more food grown in nature and my desire to serve the area of the North West, which thrives on its big industry of agriculture.

“My husband Pete, the kids and I were able to go to the Royal Easter Show for the first time for a day and had a wonderful experience.

“It was fantastic to see such a strong emphasis on agriculture and education and after 11 hours of walking, we saw it all but think we will make it an annual venture now.

“The founder of The Root Cause and author, Bel Smith and I addressed the annual RASF fundraising brunch in the beautiful Vincent Fairfax Stand to enlighten guests on what is happening to Australian kids’ health and education and encouraged them to consider giving financially to help fund my work in schools in Narrabri, Wee Waa and Moree.

“The RASF aimed to raise $25,000 but we have been blown away to learn that we have now raised over $43,000.

“I’m completely speechless at the generosity.

“It’s given me a boost and I am reminded how important this work is, for the next generation and their future.

“These people are standing for
children’s health with us.

“It was a privilege to be seated with Mr Dennis Wilson who donated one of his own artworks which fetched $6000 at the live auction, chair of the RASF, Ms Robyn Clubb AM and other highly interesting and influential people.

“I was grateful that Pete, Bridie and Percy could join and have the experience of the show and brunch with me as it was such a special opportunity.

“The support and recognition of the Royal Agricultural Society Foundation and the people who came to the brunch is so encouraging and reassuring that this work is important and vital for the future of our Australian kids.

“The people we met, and contacts made at the brunch are proving to be very positive with a number of different people offering to collaborate and support The Root Cause in different ways – watch this space.

“It was also humbling to have support from local businesses who donated prizes for the auction and Helen Dugdale and Kelsey Rowland who made the trip to Sydney.

“None of this would be possible without Jocellin Jansson, RASF board member, who first saw the value and need of this work and Cecilia Logan, RASF manager.”

The Root Cause’s vision is to create a generation of food-literate children who choose food grown in nature every day; enabling them to be better learners, more successful students, and go on to help build stronger, healthier, more sustainable communities.

A perfect match with the Royal Agricultural Society Foundation, a registered charity, that is committed to encouraging educational opportunities and building strong and sustainable rural and regional communities through a range of targeted grants and scholarships, to ensure prosperity for generations to come.

As a Narrabri local and RAS board member, Jocellin played matchmaker bringing The Root Cause and the Foundation together but it’s a relationship that stuck because of its common values, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback at the RASF charity brunch, where there was a big appetite to help country kids become better ‘friends with food’.

“You never know how it’s going to go; you hope it will resonate and it did, the enormous financial support that was received means it resonated with just about every person in the room,” said Jocellin.

“Belinda Smith and Ebonnie Whan delivered such a compelling and impressive presentation on the importance of changing the current trajectory of children’s lives and that is that they are set to live shorter lives with an unprecedented amount of severe illness. But programs like The Root Cause are turning these trends around.

“Everyone in the room understood it to be a problem and could see how the program is such a wonderful and vital part of the solution.

“We’d really like to acknowledge the generosity of many in the Narrabri Shire; local people and businesses who contributed products and prizes for the brunch auction. They all contributed to this wonderful outcome.

“I’m incredibly passionate about the work of the Royal Agricultural Society and the RAS Foundation. I’ve been part of both for so many years and I’ve seen the impact – I’ve seen people come through the RAS scholarship programs, Rural Achievers, Young Women’s Award, and observed the networks they’ve been able to develop and the opportunities they have experienced.

“Then to see how they’ve gone on to contribute to rural and regional NSW, and to agriculture is really rewarding and gratifying.

“It’s hard not to get excited about being part of that – I find it so inspiring.

“There’s lots of excitement at the show: the charity brunch, the annual Rural Scholars morning tea, the professional collaboration around philanthropy, meeting and talking with people who want to do good work in regional areas, people with new ideas who want to shift the dial and help achieve better outcomes.

“The show is such a fertile ground for great ideas and inspiration.”

The seed of an idea that was planted through Jocellin’s local connection with Ebonnie, will now grow and help the North West and its people blossom, thanks to the RAS Foundation’s platform and community support.

As Ebonnie said, “Watch this space”.