OzHarvest visited Flinders University again on 23 September to distribute parcels of food to international students in collaboration with StudyAdelaide, and Kytons Bakery – whose decision to sponsor the food donation was partly due to the owner’s longstanding Flinders connection.

Kytons Bakery is an 80-year old South Australian institution which Sharon Sutton and her husband Darren have owned since 2003.

Ms Sutton oversees the bakery’s operations as general manager. She is a Flinders University alumna (Bachelor of Arts in politics and Australian Studies, completed in 1994), and her son Josh is also studying at the University (computer science).

Despite Kytons big name – they distribute throughout mainland Australia and are best known in Adelaide for lamingtons and as a partner for hundreds of community fundraisers each year – it is a small business hit hard this year by COVID-19.

“The peak of COVID-19 in Adelaide was in the lead up to Easter – which is already our craziest time of the year. Our fundraising and foodservice were badly affected, but many fundraising co-ordinators went out of their way to keep their fundraisers going to support their group or school and us. Plus we had hundreds of people making the trip to our retail store to buy our hot cross buns,” Ms Sutton says.

“We were humbled by the support in such a scary time for our customers.”

Ms Sutton heard about OzHarvest’s great work supporting international students in South Australia challenged by the pandemic’s impact on social supports and income streams, who have been unable to access government assistance.

“Our business received a lot of government support over the last few months, but I felt that international students had been left out of that support, so I was excited to be able to give back just a little and sponsor this food run with OzHarvestSA,” she says.

“We really are all in this together and this was Kytons way of doing its bit for the wider SA community”.