Hot meals the order of the day from South West homeschoolers for tornado victims

A group of home-schooled students have put their aprons on to cook hot meals for those impacted by the freak tornado which ripped through Bunbury on May 10. The group made 57 portions of food which went to 15 families who have been displaced by the disaster. The menu included butter chicken, spaghetti bolognese, quiches and pies. South West home-schooling organiser Kira-Lee Vaisey said the group jumped at the chance to help the community. “I think its of massive importance to show the children that it (life-changing events) can just happen so quickly and you can just be without anything, so it’s just the small things you can do to help your neighbour,” she said. “We usually have a group from Collie and Bunbury but we had a couple of home-schooling families come down from Margaret River and also Busselton so that was really good — they all came down to give us a hand.” The tornado wreaked havoc through South Bunbury, Withers and College Grove, damaging about 220 houses. Nine homes were left unlivable and buildings including the PCYC and Bunbury Regional Prison received significant damage. Ms Vaisey said the group wanted to do something to help those in need. “It was just a way to give back to our community basically,” she said. “It was a really good way to show the children that giving back can just be the smallest thing, but it all matters.” The food was cooked at Milligan House, a community centre in Carey Park, while support was also given to the project by Cleanaway and Foodbank.