Breakfast program provides food for thought
COALDALE – Getting kids up for school can be challenge. On this morning, however, Jesse Hale and his crew arrive early at Jennie Emery Elementary School – by choice.
“I like helping out,” says the Grade 3 student, one of four volunteers on the day’s schedule for the school’s breakfast program. “I help my mom make pancakes at home too.”
Students line up five or six deep at each of the two breakfast carts wheeled out into the atrium at Jennie Emery prior to the first bell of the day. On the menu, today and every day, is toast with jam or Wowbutter, fruit, yogurt and cheese.
For years the staff found the means to provide hungry students with something to eat, as needed. After a survey revealed 10 per cent of the school population wasn’t starting out their day with breakfast, Jennie Emery applied for and received funding through Breakfast for Learning and other sources to offer a formal nutrition program last year.