Baldivis students cook for a cause

Vegetables are flying and saucepans frying in the cooking rooms at Baldivis Secondary College as students volunteer their time to cook for a cause.

Up to 10 students meet monthly to cook a batch of meals for a family in crisis as part of the school's latest initiative, Meals for Mates.

School chaplain Winter Westren said the volunteer group started about two months ago and was already making a difference to peoples' lives.

"We recognised that a lot of the students or people in our community sometimes have a bit of a hiccup, they might need to go to hospital or they might have a car accident or sickness," she said.

"We wanted there to be a program, firstly that the students here would be able to do to assist the community, but we wanted it to be in the forefront of their mind that you don't just take, you get involved."

Student Paul Richardson, 14, said he enjoyed learning cooking skills and helping the community all in one.

Fellow student Aisha Wilson, 13, said she signed up to volunteer because she had a passion for cooking for other people.

Mrs Westren said she believed community engagement was important for students.

"In today's day and age there doesn't seem to be a lot of opportunity for young kids to be able to give back," she said. "Kids have such brilliant ideas, and they are so full of energy and they want to be involved … so it is great to create opportunities for them to be able to link in to."

Mrs Westren said she hoped the program would encourage students to believe they could make a difference.

"Hopefully we are creating kids who choose to think outside the box a little bit, and don't sit there and think I'm only one person," she said

"You can be one person and you can make a difference."

Mrs Westren said Meals for Mates was sponsored by Baldivis Spud Shed.