There might be grilled cheese sandwiches cut up on a tray or hot pancakes. And on Mondays there’s mini muffins and fruit courtesy of Joe DeLeo and Tatiana Velasquez of the Gumboot Cafe because, as Joe says, “Everyone needs to eat.” Most Wednesdays there’s hot English muffins with egg and cheese and perhaps ham. And so, on their way into class, hurrying down the halls of Roberts Creek Elementary every day, students who feel hungry in the morning don’t have to go without breakfast. This is the Sunshine Coast Breakfast for Kids program.
“All kids get hungry and their brains need food. Maybe there wasn’t time for breakfast in the morning. The food is there for everyone,” says Ted Chisholm, Sechelt Community Schools Coordinator who oversees the program. Breakfast for Kids is offered in all Coast schools. At Roberts Creek Elementary a volunteer group of grades 6 and 7 students run the breakfast program. They come in every morning before school and cook and prepare the food, says Sheila Wilson of the Roberts Creek Community School. “At the beginning of the year, Joe and Tatiana come to give our students a brief course on preparation and food safety, and from then on the kids pretty much run the program on their own. They see how much the food is enjoyed and it gives them a sense of satisfaction. They’re a great group of kids.” By recess all the food is gone.
In every school on the coast, Breakfast for Kids is delivered in different ways. Some schools provide sit down breakfasts, some, like Roberts Creek offer breakfast on the run, and in every Coast school there are student, parent or teacher volunteers who step up to make sure the program succeeds.
The Breakfast for Kids program began on the Coast in 1999 and has many sources of funding including local parents’ groups and individual community merchants. Claytons, IGA and SuperValu provide discounts. Underpinning the program is a grant-in-aid from the Sechelt Indian Government District, the B.C. Government through Direct Access, Gibsons Lions Club, and interest from the Sunshine Coast Hungry Kids endowment fund through the S.C. Community Foundation. There are also boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to each school from the B.C. Fruit and Vegetables program. The contributions of private donors to the program are especially welcome says Chisholm. Sunshine Coast School District No. 46 handles all donations from private donors.
A call is still out for volunteers and also vendors for Slow Sundays in the Creek which begins Sunday, June 24 from noon until 4 p.m. at the gazebo behind the community library. Contact Lesley Roberts at [email protected].
The Sunshine Coast Pride Dance (19+) will be held at Roberts Creek Hall on Saturday, June 23 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Check www.sunshinecoastpride.com for tickets, also at local outlets.
