Full stomach makes learning easier for students

Page 14

Organizers of the local drive to bring breakfast and lunch to needy students are hoping to raise $45,000 before the project starts up in February.

For years, community members have been trying to bring in a program to feed school-aged children who may otherwise go through the day with little or no food

Since September, a number of interested groups have been meeting to iron out a plan to address the need.

Gary Bourque, the president of the Metis Nation of Alberta, Zone 1, said the planning has been completed and the Kids Are Worth It Nutritional Program will start on Feb. 16.

Bourque said the Metis Nation helped to bring a number of interested groups to the table to begin the formal discussions.

For 150 or 200 students who have already been identified, the program will be supplied free of charge, Bourque said. Other students may purchase the breakfast for a nominal fee. The lunch will be made available only to those children already targeted.

The program will be for children in kindergarten through Grade 5. In total, there will be 34 classes from Vera M. Welsh and Central Elementary School that will have access.

Bourque said information gathered by Northern Light School Division staff has identified about five children in each class who would directly benefit from the program.

The background of the children has never been a part of the research into the program.

Bourque said it doesn't matter where these children come from, what their parents do or what cultural background they come from.

"We have to look past that as a community," he said, adding that the bottom line is that they are children in need.

Speaking on behalf of the 20 different organizations and businesses that have worked to get the program going, Bourque said everyone sees the importance of the effort to keep our children well fed.

"Students can learn better when they've had nutrition," he said.

That nutrition will include a breakfast consisting of muffins, juice and fruit. Lunches will consist of a variety of sandwiches, hot dogs and perhaps soup.

Bourque said the program's long-term effects could benefit the whole community.

"If the nutrition is part of a kid's education . . . these kids do better in school so they end up securing jobs out there," he said. "They become more self-reliant."

Health officials agree and have studies to back up the claims. A wide-range of reports show that children with full stomachs are more productive and can think more clearly than those who go hungry.

Organizers are still looking for donations for the Kids Are Worth It Nutritional Program. For information, contact school division trustee Dan Anderson at 623-2514, Lyle Nowicki with Nova at 623-2496, Brian Stratichuk at LLB Building Products at 623-4700 or Gary Bourque at 623-3039.