Rostrevor Kiosk

Written on the 23 August 2019

As the boys hang up their muddy football/soccer boots for another season, the ladies at the school kiosk put away their aprons for another season.

During the cold wet winter months of Terms 2 and 3, the Rostrevor Kiosk has developed a reputation for being a bustling, happy place, where school parents, children, and teachers (and even opposition teams) are welcomed and served hot cups of coffee and freshly baked goods.

It has been said that behind every successful person is a spouse and behind every successful young footballer there are his parents so naturally behind the successful school kiosk is a hard working volunteer manager; Natasha Aufderheide.  For me it has been an absolute pleasure, rather than a chore, working alongside Natasha for most of the day on most Saturdays during the 2019 winter school football and soccer season.

Natasha has freely taken responsibility for the school kiosk over the last several years now.  Each week before Saturday Natasha orders the bakery supplies, stocks the fridges, cleans and vacuums the kiosk, pre-cooks the chips and organises the money tin to name just a few things.  Natasha never gets flustered other than one memorable time when the coffee machine broke down belching white milk powder around the kiosk which Natasha valiantly tried to remove with the world's loudest vacuum cleaner.  Although not official the kiosk is nowadays often referred to as "Nat's Kiosk". 

One of the major talking points at the kiosk by Rostrevor parents and the Away Team parents has been the "Wall of Fame". The Wall of Fame displays the AFL Footy Draft Picks dating back to 2008 and is a great reminder of the Palma Merenti or "reward for effort" Rossi spirit.

The other new addition to the kiosk this year courtesy of Natasha is the Reusable Red Rostrevor Coffee Cup.  Customers purchasing the cups can bring them back week after week, refill their cups and receive a discount on their coffee at the same time as trying to help save the planet.  Customers may have noticed the Reusable Coffee Cup has been displayed quite magnificently in the "head" of a wrought iron mannequin in front of the kiosk (another Natasha creation!).

The school kiosk could not be run without the help of many people.  From the generous donations of the frozen chips from Emma Truong, the cooking oil kindly supplied by Nicole and John Borzillo, and this year's big hit a new donation of Red and Black Rostrevor shortbread biscuits kindly baked every week by Francie Papalia and her sister Maryanne Zappia.  There have been suggestions that we ask Francie and Maryanne to start making "Away Team" biscuits also.

Although the Kiosk is not large in size, it is large in Rossi spirit.  Over the season Natasha and I have been helped generously by Di Versace-Mahar, Maria Agius, Karen Tripodi and Maria Lanzoni's beautiful daughter Cartier.  Cartier, who is only 13, is a very hardworking, generous of spirit, young lady who loves to help at the kiosk.  Although all females, our volunteers are all a great example of the "Men for Others" spirit.  Thank you, ladies.

The kiosk in its own special way, is about "friend raising" as much as it is about fundraising.  The connections that are made via this kiosk between parents, students, family members, teachers, volunteers, school administrators and our school community are invaluable.  The kiosk does raise funds to support the school but we also try to enhance the game day experience for all players, officials and spectators and value the relationships that are formed outside and inside the kiosk, not just one-time transactions.

So, as the final siren sounds for the season, we would like to thank all our helpers, generous sponsors, and YOU -  our school community -  for supporting the School Kiosk week after week. 

Leanne Berich