Toasts with soy butter, fresh fruit and yogurt: students from an elementary school in downtown Lévis have been able to eat at school every morning for four years thanks to their participation in the Breakfast Club, a collaboration that the he school was set up to respond to “a crying need”.
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The school team had already been thinking about implementing this program for a few years when it decided to take the leap in 2019.
Providing breakfast served as a “late snack” to 678 students is a logistical challenge, explains Deputy Principal Léandre Racine. You have to set up a room, find volunteers, prepare the food, wash the dishes and rearrange the class schedule accordingly.
Rising demand
“But after several years, we realized that we had to say yes: it was a crying need here,” she says.
“We already had a small fridge in which we stored Ficello, yogurt and apples. But it was to help only a few students and the demand was always increasing. It had become uncomfortable when we had no more food when families [comptaient sur] that to help them out, ”she continues.
Today, all the students in the school benefit from it and no one would go back. The team would like to be able to offer hot meals to its students, but the room currently used is not large enough to install a toaster to serve hundreds of students.
Moreover, the Breakfast Club of Quebec offers four different choices of breakfasts (cold or hot) according to the needs of the schools, and the infrastructures. Meals are always served by volunteers.
Feeling of calm
“There is a feeling of calm, of security, of knowing that the children have eaten,” says Claudine Dessureault, spokesperson for the Club.
In addition, Ms. Racine hopes that the new schools that will be built in underprivileged areas over the next few years will have the necessary space to serve breakfast, so that all children start the day off on the right foot.