Main photo: Spruce Glen breakfast program volunteers Lyndsay Buttus (left) and Lorna Hughes (right) serve up nutritious options to students with Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Tony Clement. He’s handing a bowl to a student who wanted to fill it with apple slices.
No student in Muskoka has to go without breakfast thanks to Student Nutrition Ontario.
The organization, which receives funding from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, aims to ensure that all children are able to eat at least one healthy meal or snack at school each day.
The student nutrition program, which exists in every Muskoka elementary and secondary school, as well as the adult learning centres, is universal—every student can access it whether they are hungry thanks to a rushed morning, not wanting to eat first thing, a long bus ride to school, early-morning extra-curricular activities and sports, or not having enough food at home.
There are several different models in the student nutrition program, notes Andrea Jones-Pascoe, Community Development Coordinator – Muskoka & East Parry Sound for Community Living North Bay, which administers the program in local schools on behalf of Student Nutrition Ontario. Some schools, like Spruce Glen, have a grab-and-go breakfast station where students can pick up whatever they want. Others have a sit-down meal where students eat together before or during the school day. And some have a bin model with meals or snacks available in the classroom that are either handed out to students or left in a central location for them to help themselves.
Spruce Glen principal Kelly Picken says that the program, which has been at the school since about 2008, has been well-received. “It’s for all students who come through the doors and a lot of them just grab something on the way to class. There’s no stigma around it, it’s for everybody. Everyone needs good food.” She adds that the plates of fruits and vegetables that are prepared for each classroom are popular, too, with the dishes mostly returning empty.
Viviane Dégagné, Manager of Student Nutrition in the Nipissing, Parry Sound and Muskoka area, and co-chair for Student Nutrition Ontario, says that provincial studies have shown that students who regularly eat morning meals have improved behaviour and focus, which leads to better grades and a higher chance for academic success.
“Kids just can’t concentrate unless they’ve got something in their stomach,” says Dégagné.
Some principals even keep food in their office, ready to give to a child who is showing some aggression, she adds. “When they get down to the principal’s office, the first thing they are asked is ‘did you have anything to eat?’ And they feed them…The rate of aggression in schools decreases, academics increases, attendance increases because kids that might not necessarily have food at home are getting up and coming to school because there is food there.”
And the program teaches students lifelong healthy eating skills. “Some kids will go grocery shopping with their parents and will ask for things that they wouldn’t normally ask for…like broccoli. Their peers are eating it, too, so it’s not mom and dad saying, eat this,” says Dégagné.
Schools are expected to do some fundraising or find partners and donations for the program on their own. And the student nutrition programs often rely on volunteers to help shop, plan menus, prepare and serve nutritious meals to students. The food served must adhere to the program’s nutrition guidelines which follows the Canada Food Guide.
Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free newsletter here.
Join the discussion: