It’s no secret that both Freson IGA and the Co-op go out of their way to support many local charitable organizations. And their support is greatly appreciated by the many people who have been helped by those two businesses.
Enter the hot lunch program at Barrhead Elementary School. It’s run by Family and Community Support Services, and it provides hot, nutritious lunches to 125 students. Sometimes, it has fed upwards of 180 students. These kids really enjoy their hot lunches, and it’s a huge savings on the pocket book for any parent who takes advantage of the program.
There is no way you could feed a child lunch every school day for only $45 or $50 a month. Parents can spend a lot more than that in only two weeks, so the advantages to the program are quite obvious.
Unfortunately, like every other program of its type, hot lunches have a limited budget. Therefore, organizers are kept very busy looking for the best deals in town and out of town to provide the most nutritious meals at the most affordable cost. It’s working, too. Right now, it costs only $2.50 per child per day for the program. At one point, it cost more than $3 per child per day.
Being thrifty has helped whittle down the cost for organizers, and as a result, they are able to pass on those savings to the parents. And, it goes without saying that any chance to save money is something a parent won’t pass up.
Where the issue lies is in the fact organizers of the program are travelling outside of Barrhead to buy some of their groceries. That isn’t to say they aren’t receiving good deals from our own grocery stores, but there are times when you can find better deals in a larger centre. Edmonton has a much larger pool from which it can stock the shelves of its grocery stores, and having hundreds of grocery stores forces them to drive down their prices.
And that’s okay. Melissa Schwindt, who is the co-ordinator of the lunch program, does a good job of getting the best bang for her buck. Could she do more shopping locally? Definitely. Would that increase the cost to parents? Perhaps.
What is abundantly clear is that FCSS and our local grocery providers need to sit down and have a chat. The owners of both grocery stores likely don’t want people to have to leave Barrhead to get groceries, so perhaps more can be done to stop that from happening.
Regardless, there’s a saying that goes, you can’t train the brain, if you don’t include the food. Students need to have full stomachs in order to better focus on their schoolwork. Sitting there and thinking about food is distracting, and could lead to lower grades.
That’s why programs like the hot lunches are vital to our children’s success, and that’s what FCSS executive director Gladys Friedrich is stressing to her board of directors. Working together with our local grocery providers has only led to success, and that needs to continue.
