Did you know that in Canada, 1 in 5 children are at risk of staring the school day on an empty stomach due to the lack of access to nutritious food? And those statistics don’t even count the number of children who don’t eat breakfast because they aren’t hungry (I was one of those kids…) or don’t have enough time to eat each morning for various reasons. It was because of these statistics as well as specific factors pertaining to our school that our principal, community liaison coordinator, a team of teachers and parent volunteers spearheaded the campaign to make breakfast a part of our daily school life. As a result of their efforts, our school was chosen to benefit from the generous support and services offered by the Breakfast Club of Canada. Thanks to this combined effort, Joliette Elementary School is now able to provide students with a nutritious breakfast every morning.
If you were to drive past our school, there are a few things you will notice. You will notice that the school is quite new (only 8 years old to be exact) and it is located in a nice, middle class neighbourhood. You would think just by looking from the outside, that the students attending our school would mostly be made up of families in that same socio-economic group.
However, just like we tell our students to never judge a book by its cover, looks can be deceiving. Many people are shocked to learn that Joliette Elementary is not a community school but a regional one. That means that our students come from within an 85 km radius of our school – and that includes dozens of surrounding municipalities. Most of our students travel by bus which may include several transfers provided by 2 different school boards. Some of our students, aged 4 years to 13 years, travel 2 hours each morning and 2 hours each afternoon to receive their education in English. Factor in that over half of our students come from low income, low educated, and/ or single family households and you begin to get a real taste of the needs and fragility of the students who attend our school – and the reason why a breakfast program is so important to ensure the success of everyone attending JES.
Imagine being an 8 year old, getting up at 6 am, getting on a school bus at 7 am, riding a bus for an hour, having to get off of it and transfer to another, and arrive at school at 9 am. That is the reality of many of my third grade students. Imagine being hungry around 8 am and eating part of your lunch in order to curb your hunger pangs. Again, that is the reality of many of my third graders.
Because of the amount of time our students spend on the bus, as well as all the different areas that they come from, having the standard hot breakfast program at our school was not a viable option for us. We have some students who arrive 30 minutes before classes start and others that arrive shortly after the homeroom bell rings. Seeing the challenges posed by this hurdle that our students have to face each morning, the Breakfast Club of Canada allowed our school to pilot a “cold menu” breakfast program. With this special way of serving breakfast, EVERY student receives his/ her breakfast FREE OF CHARGE in his/ her classroom upon arrival. This means that some students might be eating once classes or homeroom periods have started, but the teachers of JES realize that some students might be hungry (even if they DID have breakfast at home) based on the fact that they have just spent a considerable amount of time in transit.
The breakfast program would not be possible without the wonderfully dedicated teacher and parent volunteers who take charge of this program. They are responsible for receiving the food orders, separating all the food into bins for classroom use, delivering the bins, cutting up fruit and cheese, maintaining cleanliness standards, and supervising our older students who helped with the passing out of milk and other things that teachers needed. These examples just scrap the surface of everything they do! Just take a look at the pictures below! As you can see, a lot of food is needed to keep our students happy and healthy – and these photos represent only 2 weeks of breakfasts!
Because of the Breakfast Club of Canada’s program, we are able to provide our students with a wide variety of yogurt, cheese, bread, cereals, milk, fruits, and other healthy snacks to keep their bellies full and hearts happy. Nothing makes me happier in the morning than to hear my students ask me, “What’s for breakfast?” We use our breakfast time to learn about nutrition, proper hand washing techniques, the Canadian food guide, and etiquette. We also use breakfast time as a time to decompose from the long bus rides and to prepare ourselves for all the learning that is going to happen during the rest of the day.
I am truly grateful that the Breakfast Club of Canada listened to our concerns about our students and have partnered with us to help meet the basic needs of our community. For more information, including insights into child hunger, or to see if you school qualifies for this program, please click HERE for the English site or ICI pour le site en Français.
As with any community supporter, the Breakfast Club of Canada graciously accepts donations to help bring their program to schools across the country. Donations can be made individually, in memoriam, or by corporations. If you or someone you know might be interested in supporting this amazing cause, please click HERE for more information.
Have a great day!
[…] My new favourite place in my classroom is the Breakfast Bar. Our school is privileged to have the support of Breakfast Club of Canada. That means that every child receives a FREE continental breakfast each morning. This area will be where my students come to pick up their breakfast and where I will grab my coffee when I need a quick pick-me-up! To read about the impact of this program on our students, please click HERE. […]