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An Entire Community for the Well-Being Of Young People
As we celebrate Hooked on School Days, I would like to say a special word about the dedicated people who play an essential role in children’s academic journey. As the President and Chief Executive Officer of Breakfast Club of Canada, I realize that parents, teachers, breakfast program volunteers and donors are doing their utmost to ensure children have the energy they need to learn and engage.
Keeping children in school starts with building a safe and inclusive community around them. However, with life finally returning to normal for most of us, children still face unprecedented challenges regarding access to healthy food, social development and mental health. After four years at the helm of BCC, I am amazed when I hear what school teams, families and students have to say about the positive impacts of school food programs.
Beyond helping to provide access to nutritious breakfasts, the Club offers a nurturing environment where students feel like they matter. By coming together with caring and compassion, they can build the confidence they need to continue their education, pursue their interests and explore their passions. And this confidence is something they will, in turn, pass down to future generations.
I invite you to keep the same drive and determination, to help the adults of tomorrow realize their full potential. Your words of encouragement, commitment and generosity make a real difference in keeping children in school and learning.
Tommy Kulczyk
For more information: Hooked on School Days – journeesperseverancescolaire.com/en/about/hooked-on-school-days
Handy Nutrition Tools for You to Use!
The Breakfast Club of Canada Nutrition Committee has some great tools for you to check out. Be sure to have a closer look and find out how to boost the nutritional value of your breakfasts, encourage children to try new foods and make healthy eating habits stick.
Nutrition Guidelines
The Club’s General Nutrition Guidelines contain a series of recommendations to help you make every breakfast nutrient-dense and nutritionally balanced, with a daily selection from each of the three main food categories. Get inspired by the front-page picture of a colourful plate brimming over with healthy food choices, and keep reading for more examples of recommendations for each category.
Want to dive deeper when making your breakfast menu selections for your students? Then be sure to read our Detailed Nutrition Guidelines, where you can learn more about what goes into a healthy, balanced breakfast.
Swap This… For That!
The Swap This… for That! sheet has some great ideas for incorporating healthier alternatives into your breakfast program menus. The suggested foods and ingredients will increase the nutritional value of your meals. Have a look to see some of the places you can power up children’s mornings!
Nurturing Healthy Eaters
Our Nurturing Healthy Eaters sheet outlines five simple ways you can encourage students to embrace healthy eating. Find out how to create a positive breakfast environment and instil good attitudes toward food.
Special Occasions
Our Special Occasions sheet has some creative ideas for preparing healthy breakfasts to celebrate key dates throughout the year. Looking for inspiration? Look no further!
Tips on Introducing New Foods to Your Program
With our Tips on Introducing New Foods to Your Program, you can learn more about how to successfully diversify your breakfast menu. The information in this document is designed to help schools work new foods into their programs and into children’s daily diets.
The Success Story of Le Tandem School and Fruits et légumes Bono Inc.
Every week, at Le Tandem School in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, a delivery truck pulls in, with thousands of pieces of fresh ‘’Fruits et légumes Bono’’ produce on board. Through this partnership, students have access to a wider variety of fruit every morning.
In October 2021, it occurred to one of the teachers at Le Tandem that the produce that went unsold at Fruits et légumes Bono (where her husband worked) could be repurposed and redistributed to the children at her school. The idea went over well with both the school’s principal, Sylvain Jetté, and the president of the Montreal-based company, Giuseppe Lavorato. Ever since, fresh fruit has been a morning staple for the more than 380 students at Le Tandem, 70 of whom are enrolled in the breakfast program. Given that the products provided through BCC are limited to what is available from suppliers and subject to transportation constraints, a partner like this is vital to adding extra variety to children’s diets. What’s more, the fruit is provided free of charge, courtesy of Bono. The only cost covered by the school is the delivery charge.
It just goes to show that one teacher with one simple idea can have a tremendous impact on an entire school population. Thank you to all those who have been involved in making this amazing initiative come to life!
Perhaps you, too, should consider approaching some of the food businesses in your area to see if a similar arrangement can be made. Who knows what would come of it!
Mealshare celebrates 500,000 meals donated to the Club.
There is an old African proverb that says “Alone, you go faster, but together we go farther.” This adage perfectly explains how two national non-profits like Mealshare and Breakfast Club of Canada combine forces to increase our impact.
Our partnership makes perfect sense because our missions are so well aligned. The Club aims to give children an equal chance to learn by providing healthy meals in a nurturing environment. Mealshare makes it easy for restaurant patrons to turn their dining experience into a giving opportunity. Both organizations use our vast national networks to rally communities around the issues of nutrition and food access.
The Club is very lucky to count on strong partnerships with like-minded organizations like Mealshare.
8 years of partnership and counting
Created in 2013, Mealshare is now present in 76 communities across the country. Mealshare found a creative way to partner with restaurants across Canada by designating select dishes on their menu as a Mealshare item. Restaurants then contribute $1.00 from each Mealshare item sold to charities like the Club, helping provide healthy meals to Canadians in need.
Mealshare has been a strong and steady partner of the Club since 2015 and just reached the incredible milestone of donating 500,000 meals to the Club’s breakfast school programs.
Fun fact: Mealshare began with only four restaurant partners at the beginning of this adventure, 10 years ago. Today, the non-profit organization can count on the support of more than 250 restaurants across Canada. In 2021, they even surpassed five million meals provided to youth in need!
A solution-focused approach
Mealshare partners with charities that are well-known in their communities, inclusive, and focused on nurturing youth in need. Wherever possible, they take a solutions-focused approach to providing holistic support for kids and youth. “Our Co-Founders are cousins and best friends who grew up together in Calgary, Alberta. They founded Mealshare with the dream to be able to sit in their rocking chairs one day and explain to their grandkids that there used to be hungry children in our world… but not anymore.” explains Stacey Olsen, Community Leader Coach.
Partnering with Breakfast Club of Canada was an easy choice for Mealshare; they know how important a healthy breakfast is for children’s overall health and engagement at school. Steven Letts, Advisor, Corporate & Community Giving highlights the great collaboration “Mealshare is a vital organization that has been a steadfast supporter of Breakfast Club of Canada since 2015. We are so grateful for this partnership and look forward to many years of continued collaboration!”
By providing meals in a school setting, children also have access to a built-in community of teachers, friends, administrators, and guidance counsellors to help make sure their full needs are being met. Olsen adds: “ensuring children start the day with a nutritious breakfast has so many lasting benefits and we are proud to partner with Breakfast Club of Canada to help make that happen.”
Thank you, Mealshare for your support!
Some Like It Hot: One School’s Mission to Make Hot Breakfasts Part of Their In-Class Service Model
This year, the staff at Nesbitt Elementary School in Montreal, Quebec, decided to break the routine of serving cold breakfast food items that they had adopted while COVID-19 restrictions were in place. They wanted to see if they could switch back to a hot breakfast while maintaining an in-class service model.
In September 2022, Nicholas Romano, principal of Nesbitt Elementary School, approached breakfast program volunteer Francesca Lasala to discuss the possibility of offering students a hot breakfast. With Francesca’s open-mindedness, determination and strong team of fellow volunteers, they were able to change their menu while still serving breakfast in class.
With the support of Principal Nicholas Romano, Francesca Lasala and her team of volunteers came up with a menu featuring waffles, scrambled egg tortillas and grilled cheese sandwiches. The breakfast is prepared before school starts and then delivered to each classroom by bin while everything is still warm.
The team has gotten off to a great start thanks to volunteers Danielle, and husband-and-wife pair Claudette and Denis, who have been helping out for a few years now. Randstad employees are also pitching in this year by sending employees to volunteer every two weeks.
When asked for advice about getting enough volunteers, Francesca said, “Send an email to parents! Try it! You just need to stress that their presence needs to be consistent.” Francesca also creates a positive climate for her volunteers and puts a lot of effort into how the breakfast appears in the bin. As she puts it, “A good presentation goes a long way!”
Francesca sees the value in enriching the breakfast program as much as possible. “Before entering the classroom, the students can already smell what’s on the menu. They get so excited about it!” she said, adding, “The most rewarding thing for me is having the kids say ‘thank you’ during the day. Once they came to the breakfast room while I was cleaning and a girl said, ‘Thanks for everything you do to make sure we eat in the morning.’”
Advice for switching to a hot menu
The Nesbitt teachers agree: breakfast in class is no different from snack time. It’s a calm period during which students get the chance to start the day with a healthy meal. It gives teachers time to look at their agendas for notes or end-of-day changes. They all have their routine, clean up their spaces and bring back the class bin.
If you need support, talk to your BCC coordinator! At Nesbitt, Francesca worked with her coordinator to adjust the original menu of pancakes and oatmeal, which they could sense might be too much to manage all at once, to something that was more manageable but just as delicious and nutritious!
A Tasty Recipe from Kasha
Photo Credits: https://petersfoodadventures.com/buckwheat-kasha-with-milk
This combination of roasted buckwheat, honey and milk is easy to make and even easier to devour!
Kasha (Buckwheat Porridge)
Yield: About 6 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Photo Credits: https://petersfoodadventures.com/buckwheat-kasha-with-milk
Adapted from https://petersfoodadventures.com/buckwheat-kasha-with-milk