The effects of food inflation and the pandemic are being felt right in the stomachs of schoolchildren, as the Breakfast Club has served up to twice as many meals in some schools since the start of the pandemic.
• Read also: Inflation pressure continues in Quebec
” [Déjà, l’an dernier], there are directions calling us asking, “Can I feed 100 more children?” »Recalls Claudine Dessureault, purchasing and inventory manager at the Breakfast Club.
Demand has not weakened since: the organization is now distributing a nutritious breakfast to 65,000 Quebec children in nearly 500 schools.
This is 25,000 more than before the pandemic.
“And we do not see the day when the attendance rate will stabilize”, specifies Mme Dessureault.
The Club’s policy is never to ask questions about what prompts a child to eat lunch in class, to avoid stigmatizing them.
But we can imagine that the effects of COVID-19 on families (job losses, precariousness) and the increase in the price of the grocery basket are there for something.
Courtesy photo
Thibaud Liné, The canteen for everyone
Double challenge
In addition to having to feed all these new children, the organization must also deal with other unforeseen cost increases.
To meet the new health standards, all foods must now be individually portioned and prepackaged as needed, from a piece of clementine cheese to a cereal bar.
Inflation – of food, but also of transportation costs – also has repercussions.
“We must redouble our efforts so that it does not affect our menus. Reducing our variety of foods is the last option, ”emphasizes Claudine Dessureault.
The recommended solution is rather to review the strategy for financing and collecting donations from public and private partners.
The organization hopes to convince governments to annex their contribution to the rising cost of food.
A report from Dalhousie University predicts that it will settle between 5% and 7% next year.
The difference may seem small on the price of a lunch valued between $ 2 and $ 3, but it is huge when you serve millions of them a year.
“We have seen this increase, and we know that it will not go down,” worries the purchasing manager.
At La cantine pour tous, which coordinates an affordable meal service in 26 schools, inflation is already shaking up plans.
“It’s a real headache. We received the money [des donateurs] at the start of the year and we made our budgets accordingly. If everything changes, we have to improvise, ”admits Thibaud Liné, Managing Director.
The only real meal
The Federation of Quebec Parents’ Committees also hopes that the provincial government will improve food aid measures in schools to take inflation into account.
“Sometimes, school is the only place where children have enough to eat all day,” said its president, Kevin Roy.
For the moment, the Ministry of Education does not know the indexation rate that will be used to calculate the food aid budget in effect for the next school year.
The Breakfast Club hopes to raise $ 200,000 by December 31, 2021, to meet growing needs.