Breakfast Club of Canada, a nonprofit that aids schools in ensuring students have a healthy breakfast every school day, does so regardless of provincial funding for breakfast programs.
In a phone interview spokesperson Amanda Boadi said, “Boyle school is one of the schools that has been on our waitlist for a bit, they applied in 2018.”
“Any school can apply for support from the Club, and if they're starting a brand-new breakfast program, that's completely fine. But a lot of the time when schools apply with us, they've already started serving breakfast,” Boadi explained.
“We do have a set number of openings in the province every year, and we look over every school that's on the waitlist. Then we just do a quick assessment,” Boadi continued. “Funding is based on the number of students, but then we also take into account things like the high school which usually have a higher ratio for the amount of food per student than an elementary school, and then also, depending on the region and the supports available.”
Boadi explained that sometimes rural schools have a harder time meeting the food needs of the students simply because of lower access to supermarkets, but the Club ensures the Canada Food Guide is being met.
“A lot of the time, if we're working with a school that already has a meal program, we like to sit with them and start with what they already have, and build from that,” Boadi continued. “If they're doing a brand-new breakfast program that's really where we put more attention into giving them our tools and resources.”
There are three models the Breakfast Club of Canada uses for serving breakfast. One is a sit-down breakfast that incorporates a hot breakfast.
Boadi expanded saying, “but that's really dependent on the school infrastructure, or we will have something like the ‘grab and go breakfast.’”
The other two models are hybrids that incorporate a ‘grab and go’ style either with some form of a hot breakfast a few days or a straight cold breakfast that any child can take part in.
Some schools offer breakfast to all students, and do not break it down by specific need.
According to the Breakfast Club of Canada website the need should not be solely based on socio-economic status; lack of appetite early in the morning, a long bus ride, or other factors may play into why a child may arrive at school hungry.
“So, the interesting thing at least I've observed is that ‘grab and go’ is depending on if the school has a kitchen. I've seen some ‘grab and goes’ where they'll do a toast Tuesday, where it will be toast and jam and milk,” Boadi said. “Then they'll have maybe some cereal and fruit on Thursdays, and they'll have a hot breakfast with easy to grab items like sheet pan omelettes, or a big granola crisp, something that you just grab with a napkin and then go to the table.”
“As part of the Canada Food Guide, we do ask that they are focusing on providing the proteins, fruits and vegetables and then water and milk,” she stressed.
The funding helps the schools acquire the equipment they need to be able to make and serve the breakfasts, as well as get the breakfast food to meet the Canada Food Guide.
The Breakfast Club of Canada has corporate support and accepts public donations, especially this time of year. You may see them fundraising as you are in Walmart, for example.
“We do have some partnerships at the national level that we're trying to work on expanding right now. But I'd say one of the biggest ones is Egg Farmers of Canada, and more specifically, Egg Farmers of Alberta,” Boadi expanded. “They provide the Club with many coupons that we can send to schools. I find that a lot of our local stores really like using those because that's something that cuts their costs.”
Boadi continued, “In the last year, we've really been working on getting donations to Edmonton. So for example, we had a partnership with Mott’s applesauce though that was traditionally going to Calgary because we have storage there, but this is the first year will be having applesauce delivered to Edmonton, where other schools from around the surrounding area would be able to come pick it up.”
Boyle school isn’t out of the running though, just because the school year has started.
“A lot of the time when we're doing our review for each year, we do start with looking at the schools that have been on the waitlist the longest,” Boadi explained. “If we get the chance to do things like work with school districts, so we have opportunities that come in a specific area, the school district is able to kind of advocate for the schools that are the most in need because they have their own vulnerability ranking.”
“I do usually like to say that, you know, the time on the waitlist is something that we consider in the whole application. And we're shortlisting, but it's not the most important factor,” she stated.
“So funny enough with our selection, we don't determine school opening until after our budget is set because we have this large fundraiser that goes on in September,” Boadi continued. “So usually we confirm our budget for the number of openings around the mid fall, and then we have the rest of the year with the school.”
Once a school has been signed on as a partner with the Club, they do not need to keep renewing and are considered a partner until they decide not to use the Club anymore.
When asked if it would help for the Boyle school to lobby the Club, Boadi said, “I don't necessarily think there's anything they could do for lobbying, but I would say as far as the community goes a lot of the time it does help to see that the school has support.”
“What I mean by that is, if we can look at an application and see that, you know, a school has the resources to continue to succeed, whether that's volunteer support from the community, or additional donations, because we know that our funding will never maybe match the government level, it's not going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, we like to see that each school does really have that support to have longevity in this program,” she continued. “So, I guess the way to support would be to check in with the school and either donate or get some food resources or volunteer program.”
“If any schools would like to support or would like to get support it would be worth it for them to just go to our website and apply because then we know of the need,” she said when questioned about how the Club acquires school members.
Interested schools can sign up on their website at: https://www.breakfastclubcanada.org/
“I think just the fact that our focus is really to make sure that any student who needs food will be able to get that help in the community and that's what we really try to work towards,” Boadi concluded.
