Costa’s mushroom farm located at Mernda in the northern suburbs of Melbourne enjoys supporting its local community through developing relationships with local schools in the City of Whittlesea. One of these schools is St Mary’s Parish Primary School, a semi-rural school situated on eight acres of land. Last year, Costa donated two truckloads (40 cubic metres) of mushroom compost for the preparation of the ground for a new orchard which was planted in the school grounds.
Costa has now donated $6,000 to St Mary’s to assist with building the literacy skills of both the students and parent community.
These funds will be used to purchase:
- Home reading books for Years 3-6 students including multiple titles of popular kids’ books written by authors such as Andy Griffiths, Paul Jennings and Roald Dahl
- Picture story books and novels for all students
- Sets of novels for Years 5-6 students for participation in a Book Club program for advanced readers
- Novels for the introduction of a Parents’ Book Club to promote reading in the parent community
These new resources will add to the literacy activity already undertaken in the City Whittlesea, including the giving of free books to local kindergartens and picture storybooks to all parents with 3-4 year old children to encourage parents to read with their children.
On Monday 21st May, Costa representatives joined with the State Member for Yan Yean, Danielle Green, and visited St Mary’s to promote reading in schools and also the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge.
Costa’s Victorian Mushroom Manager, Jose Cambon said that “Costa is proud to help our local community in any way we can and we are pleased to be able to support the St Mary’s Parish Primary School’s efforts to promote a love of reading and to develop literacy and learning skills”.
