Students across the Hilltops region are learning valuable hospitality skills while helping ensure local families have access to nutritious meals through Hilltops Council's Full Plate Pantry – Harvest and Hope initiative.

Funded through an FABC Youth Innovation Grant and coordinated by Hilltops Council Youth Action Group coordinator Georgia Thomaidis, the program brings together schools, community organisations and support services to prepare and distribute meals to people experiencing food insecurity.

Participating schools include Hennessy Catholic College, Boorowa Central School, Young High School and Murrumburrah High School.

Students prepare meals such as cottage pie, chicken alfredo pasta and chicken meatballs with rice, with each school deciding how best to support local needs.

Ms Thomaidis said the program had quickly become much more than a cooking lesson.

"The students are loving it," she said.

"They're learning something practical while also doing something helpful for the community.

"A lot of them don't realise that there are actually kids going without meals, so it's making them aware of that as well."

Hilltops Youth Action Group coordinator Aemon De Britt who has assisted, Ms Thomaidis with the program said the initiative benefited both the students and the wider community.

"It's such a beautiful mutual benefit," Mr De Britt said.

"Young people are developing skills, taking pride in their community and building connections, while at the same time helping address food insecurity in the Hilltops region."

At Boorowa Central School, hospitality students are preparing meals on a scale they would not normally experience in the classroom.

Mrs Catherine Golden l Hospitality Teacher said the project had provided students with an opportunity to develop new skills while giving back to their community.

"It's great for their skill set because we don't often get to cook bulk quantities of meals," she said.

"It opens up a whole new skill set for them that they wouldn't encounter otherwise."

She said students had embraced the initiative from the outset.

"They had a lot of questions around it – where are the meals going and who are we making them for?

"When we explained, they students were really sympathetic to the cause because there are people in their classes that they could straightaway identify as students who would access and use these food parcels."

The wider Boorowa community has also rallied behind the initiative, donating sausages, potatoes, peas and corn to help students prepare even more meals than the grant funding alone would allow.

Some meals remain at the school to support students and families in need, while others are distributed through the Boorowa Rotary Op Shop or shared across the Hilltops region when demand arises.

The initiative has also been praised by the Young Crisis Accommodation Centre Inc., which thanked students and staff for their contributions.

"As recipients of the Full Plate Pantry program we can honestly say that the meals handed out to those in need have been so appreciated," the organisation commented.

"Thank you to the amazing students and staff at Hennessy Catholic College and to Georgia at the Hilltops Youth Action Group for being big supporters of this incredible initiative. We are so grateful."

By combining practical learning with community service, the Full Plate Pantry – Harvest and Hope initiative is not only filling empty plates but helping build a stronger, more connected Hilltops community.