School District 43 is serving breakfast to students in the morning thanks to community efforts and local fundraising. But feeding kids isn’t just about filling hungry stomachs, says the district’s community connections co-ordinator who is behind the surge in support for meal programs.
Jeff Stromgren has spent three years identifying the need for food programs and then encouraging groups such as the Coquitlam Optimist Club and the Coquitlam Firefighters Charitable Society to serve pancakes, cereal and fruit in local schools. He said eating morning meals not only gives kids energy and focus for learning but, also, a place to socialize and connect with others.
“Food programs aren’t necessarily about feeding kids,” Stromgren said, “it could be about building connections for them. At the same time, we’ve got to prepare kids for learning.”
Miller Park elementary school, where the Coquitlam Optimist Club has been providing a breakfast program since October, is a case in point. On a cool, cloudy morning, one of the school’s hallways is transformed into a homey kitchen with up to a dozen students seated around a table covered in a blue checked tablecloth.
The smell of pancakes cooking on a griddle is strong, and the students happily eat their stacks, which are accompanied by sausages and orange and watermelon slices.
“They love anything to do with bacon and sausage,” said Hal Griffin, who with fellow Optimists Peter Smith and Robert Henry, is cooking for the kids.
Some kids chat while others eat quietly, and when Griffin and principal Lisa Rinke sit down with them, it’s like one big happy family.
“I love the fact that we’ve got some seniors interacting with our kids. Many [students] are immigrants and don’t have grandparents here. It’s another opportunity to have an adult interacting with the children in a powerful way,” said Rinke, who noted the Optimists not only cook and serve the food two mornings a week, but shop and pay for it as well.
The Optimists say providing the food is a small part of their commitment to the community while seeing the children grow and become more confident each week is the payoff.
“For me, it’s volunteer experience for the work I want to get into,” explained Henry, who wants to be come a social worker or child and youth worker, and said chatting with the kids and hearing them talk brings him back to when he was their age.
In all, about 17 breakfast programs are operating in SD43, paid for by donations from businesses and charitable organizations such as the Breakfast Club of Canada or the Springbank Corporation, which is building homes in Burquitlam. Some schools might not have formal a breakfast program but buy snacks and dole them out as needed.
Stromgren said feeding children is not a school’s job but making sure students are ready to learn is a big responsibility, and one well recognized by principals, counsellors, teachers and youth workers who work with him and one another to make sure kids are fed and ready to learn.
“You go to a youth worker’s office, you might see a toaster,” Stromgren said.
At Rochester elementary, it’s the Coquitlam firefighters who are doing the fundraising to provide a breakfast program for the school. Through their recent Vintage Vegas Bash, the firefighters collected cash to pay for food and they’ve also provided an oven for cooking and did some minor renovations at the school to store the food.
“These programs are born in the community and we address them from the resources in the community,” Stromgren said, noting that one of the challenges is finding space and equipment to feed kids properly because “schools are not restaurants.”
But when the community comes together to provide muscle, time, energy and resources — plus sausages and bacon — a lot can be accomplished, and schools become a welcoming place to be and learn.
• The Coquitlam Optimists are looking for volunteers to help with the Miller Park breakfast program when it starts again in the fall. Criminal record checks and a time commitment are required. Email halgriffin@shaw.ca if you are interested.
