As food prices continue to rise in Canada, pressure on families As they buy groceries, pay rent and try to make ends meet, school feeding programs across the country say they are struggling to provide meals to a growing number of students in need.
The Breakfast Club of Canada, one national program that reaches more than 580,000 children, says in the meal programs it supports in more than 3,500 schools, 30 to 40 percent of students typically participated before the pandemic hit.
With food prices continuing to rise, “some rates are now closer to 60 and 75 percent of the school population,” said Judith Barry, co-founder of Breakfast, in Montreal.
Grocery prices have an impact on school feeding programs, said Barry, who is also the group’s director of government relations, because operators “can’t get the same value and the same amount of food.”
Some are forced to make difficult choices, such as reducing the food items they offer or the number of times the program can be run.
After weathering nearly three turbulent years Adapting to restrictions and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemicNow, school feeding programs across the country are grappling with another crisis: rising food costs coupled with a rise in the number of students needing a daily meal.
For program operators, the anticipated national school food program pledged by the federal government can’t come soon enough.
School lunch programs are feeling the pinch of price hikes, as some find it hard to afford more nutritious food — and more expensive ones.
School food is an essential service.
said Debbie Field, coordinator of the Alliance for Healthy School Food, a national group of nonprofits working to increase students’ access to nutritious school meals.
“School food is an essential service.”
Field, who is also an associate member of the Center for Food Security Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, noted that when in-person classes were closed at various points earlier in the pandemic, it underscored how important school breakfast, lunch and snack programs were. to many students.
Although provincial, territorial and some municipal governments have helped fund school feeding programs, and Canada has “a lot of creative people running food programs all over the country,” Field said the system needs more.
“With food prices soaring, essential funding for school food programs must be increased,” she said.
In Toronto, John Yan, executive director of the Angel Foundation for Learning, has been busy with ongoing fundraising discussions and new initiatives hoping to boost the charity’s support for more than 180 student nutrition programs, which feed 61,000 students each school day.
The foundation pools financial contributions from a variety of sources, including levels of governments, private donors, and fundraisers with corporate partners—like the grocery retailers running the upcoming Toonies for Tummies appeal—and funnels that funding into in-school programs.
Some schools have seen food program participants double, Yan said, and since these operations focus on fresh, healthy offerings and are required to follow specific nutritional guidelines, staff may have no choice but to pay higher food prices.
“In many schools…that snack or meal may be the only nutritious food a student or child gets that day,” he said.
Last week, the foundation released $60,000 in emergency funds for 12 school food programs in the city. Before the pandemic, requests for additional funding usually arrived near the end of the school year, Yan said.
“If we did actually increase the emergency funds in January, I can’t imagine what it would be like when we get to May and June.”
The manager says the need is increasing
Whether welcoming new families or helping deliver pizza for lunch, Edmonton Principal Maureen Matthews sees firsthand the growing need for a free snack and lunch program at Norwood School, a public school near downtown.
“Last year we had just over 180 students entered the school feeding programme, and this year we’re over 220,” she said.
There has also been a rise in “families who — when they come to enroll their students with us — ask whether or not we have a lunch program,” Matthews said. “I see the relief on their faces when I say, You know what? We provide that.”
The Norwood Program, offered through the support of Edmonton-based non-profit charity E4C, operates on a “take what you need” model. In one day, 225 students might have access to food; The next day, 200 students may need a snack, lunch, or both.
“We don’t want to stigmatize people who are food insecure. Food is a fundamental right, and it’s essential to children’s success,” said Kelly Pickford, E4C’s director of community and school programmes.
“if [students] They just need some fruit or vegetables because their family can’t afford it, they have access to it. Or if they need to get to the full meal, they can do that….we’re just building that ability and understanding [the students] To know that when and if they need it, they can access it the way they need to.”
Find more sources of income
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the School Lunch Association, which is based in St. John’s, expanded this month to provide more than 7,000 nutritious midday meals every school day. It’s ramped up the service to 41 locations—with more seeking to join—under a pay-what-you-can model (with a modest suggested price of $4 per lunch).
However, as more students sign up for lunch, the group is also seeing a rise in the proportion of participants who are unable to pay for it, according to Executive Director John Finn.
“There are a lot of parents reaching out to you…and they’ll send a personal email saying, ‘Hey, I won’t get paid until next week. I’ll contribute when I can” or “I just lost my job and times are tough.” I usually pay the full amount. “
Before the pandemic, about 90 percent of the revenue the association needed to operate came from sales, with the rest being covered by donations and a provincial grant.
This school year, sales account for 78 to 80 percent, leaving a gap in the funds at the same time the association has seen food and supplies costs increase by 11 percent and 17 percent, respectively. This comes after food costs have already increased by 20 percent, and supply costs have increased by 25 percent during the 2021-22 school year.
“It’s a double-edged sword to a certain extent,” Finn said. Enrollment is up, but it comes “because we’re absorbing additional food costs and supply costs, and then, on the flip side, we’re actually seeing a decrease in the amount of revenue that we would normally generate [from families paying]. “
Recent efforts to reduce the association’s operational costs include minor modifications to menu items, finding new vendors and more negotiating prices with existing vendors.
Employees are exploring additional income streams: new donors, additional government grants, or perhaps a charity lottery license. Finn said he also hopes to see movement in the National School Food Program in this year’s federal budget — as is the case with school feeding counterparts across Canada.
Recent consultations on the national programme
“We have a variety of programs supported by individuals, the private sector and the community, which is great…but we need more as well,” said Barry, co-founder of The Breakfast Club.
“The National School Food Policy will help us really build on what is there — the existing ecosystem — and it will help us reach more students and more communities.”
Judith Barry of the Canadian Breakfast Club shares what she wants to see at the federal national school food program, to reinforce what’s already happening across the country.
More than 5,000 participants — program organizers, parents, volunteers, teachers and others — joined the consultation on the national school food programme, which concluded in December, said Karina Gould, the federal minister for families, children and social development, who was tasked with the investigation. Program alongside Minister of Agriculture Marie-Claude Bibeau.
The report that gathers information is next, Gould told CBC News, with a focus on developing a program that “will work right across the country, responding to the unique needs of every province and territory,” adding that it should also be presented to her colleagues in Ottawa.
Gould said she sees this as a natural follow-up to the daycare program that was adopted across Canada last year, and believes the success of that latest partnership can inspire confidence in similar joint efforts across governments.
“I really see school food as an extra pillar of making sure we prepare all of our children for success in Canada.”