Meet young parents Marco, Amy and son Aaron

Marco, Amy and Aaron’s story 2017 Young Parent Program graduates

Support to budget food costs and eat well IN 2017, Amy and Marco, of Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast, completed a six-weeks FoodREDi program as participants of the Australian Red Cross Society of Women Leaders-funded Young Parents Program (YPP).

The couple were referred to YPP by a baby health nurse and another welfare agency when Aaron was about nine months old and through the program secured housing, a regular income, access to study and week-to-week support to raise their son.

Support worker Morgan DeZilva said the couple were probably better set up than many YPP participants.

These guys were probably a little more set up than most

GOSFORD SYDNEY

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“They had their licence and they had some family support,” Morgan said.

“Aaron too was a little bit older and he was already a smarty pants and bright. These guys came, Amy for her study, and for housing and for some extra support.”

The FoodREDi program – delivered as part of the Young Parents Program - gave them extra support to budget food costs, eat well for less and balance their nutritional needs.

Aaron is two-years-old. He knows his way around his parents’ kitchen; pulling open drawers to curiously peek inside or opening the pantry to reach for a packet of apricots – his favourite dried fruit.

For Amy and Marco, Aaron is the reason they wanted to do the FoodREDi program.

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Amy, 24, is always watching and listening for her son Aaron. She turns to him to answer a question or gently scold him. She laughs at his antics and is patient as he points out the pictures in one of his favourite books.

I read to him but he doesn’t really want me to read to him, he wants me to point things out to him.

Amy is the saver of the family.

She and Marco share household costs but have their own accounts to manage personal costs.

Amy has bought a car from her savings since they had Aaron and is studying with hopes of a job in design.

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Marco’s an involved dad.

He’s the first one up with Aaron every morning, he prepares the meals and shops for groceries.

I’m watching him grow and have more fun the older he gets Marco’s an Elvis fan and his vinyl record player has pride of place in the couple’s small unit, but what he loves most is watching his son grow and become more curious about the world he lives in.

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Marco does most of the cooking at home.

He enjoys cooking but said he knows there is more he could do to control what he eats and the quantities he eats.

Marco said he enjoyed the hands-on FoodREDi cooking classes and said the meal he enjoyed preparing and eating most was fresh Vietnamese rice paper rolls.

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Aaron’s favourite food is eggs. He eats us out of house and home, Dad Marco says.

Mum Amy says he will eat all day long if I let him, he’s not fussy.

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Amy and Marco joined other young parents at a training kitchen in Gosford’s CBD for six consecutive weeks to participate in the Australian Red Cross FoodREDi program.

As well as weekly cooking classes, the group worked through exercises on food hygiene and food handling. A supermarket tour also helped them put their new skills and knowledge on budgeting and meal planning into practice.

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For households like Amy and Marco’s food security is a real problem.

The pair struggle to pay household bills for electricity and gas and shop week-to-week for groceries, prioritising their growing son’s needs. They have support from Australian Red Cross to pay their rent and Amy saves a small amount of money each fortnight.

However, research released in 2017 by the Dieticians Association of Australia revealed that although a healthy diet cost less than an unhealthy diet, people in low income households spent about a third of their disposable income to eat well.

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Australian Red Cross Young Parents Program works to ensure best outcomes for children and families by improving the capacity of young parents with complex needs, aged 13-24, to live and parent independently.

It is a program designed to meet the needs of pregnant and parenting young women and men who are unable to access elsewhere the safety, security and support required to look after their child effectively.

The Society of Women Leaders has committed to financially supporting the program for a period of three years, ensuring the delivery of child development, education and volunteer support work for all families at all sites of the Young Parents Program.

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