Hunger Awareness Week: Fairview Breakfast program helping kids start their day right
In Canada alone, 57,000 families send their children to school without breakfast. With 1-in-10 children living in poverty and facing hunger each day, breakfast programs for school-aged children have cropped up across the country to make sure our kids are getting a healthy start. In Fairview, Ellie MacDonnell and a group of dedicated volunteers gather at 7:30 a.m. on weekday mornings to prepare nutritious breakfasts for the children who attend elementary school in the neighbourhood.
“A couple of years ago, we reached out to local businesses and organizations to ask for some help with funding, preparing and serving the breakfasts,” says MacDonnell. “The Salvation Army Fairview Citadel was quick to get back to us with a positive response, and they’re here every week to help.”
Every Wednesday morning, volunteers from Fairview Citadel crack eggs and slice fresh fruit for the children to enjoy before their busy school day, with two teams alternating each week. Captains Jamie and Shelley Rands make up one of the teams and are glad to be able to serve such a need in the community.
“Every other Wednesday, Shelley and I come over here to lend a hand,” explains Captain Jamie Rands. “This is a wonderful program, and we are glad to be a part of it.”
Breakfasts range each day from yogurt and cereal, to pancakes or breakfast pizzas and burritos, but no child can leave without having something to eat.
“The kids don’t leave until they have something to eat,” says Captain Shelley Rands. “Half of a breakfast burrito or a piece of fruit and a glass of milk is better than nothing. We can usually persuade them to have a little something.”
Shortly after 8 a.m., children bustle in with their backpacks in tow and line up at the kitchen doors, with some of the students volunteering to help serve breakfast to their peers. On average, 30 children attend the program daily, and the volunteers know most by name.
“Some kids have breakfast before they leave home, but they choose to come here for the fellowship,” says Shelley. “Other kids don’t come because they feel that they shouldn’t be here, or that they will be judged for coming so Ellie takes breakfast to the offices at the school.”
In addition to fellowship, friendly volunteers and a healthy breakfast, the kids have the opportunity to play with toys or visit with Ellie and the other volunteers until the program shuts down at 8:45 a.m. Grab bags are often available for students to bring to a friend or sibling, or for students who arrive too late to sit down and eat at the hall.