In February 2020, thanks to the partnership with Pembina Pipeline Corporation (“Pembina”), new breakfast programs were implemented at Prince Rupert Middle School, Charles Hays Secondary School, and Roosevelt Park Elementary School.

Today, these programs feed 225 children and youth every morning and establish strong ties within the community with the objective of continuing to help students reach their full potential. 

Creating a community garden 

This past year, the City of Prince Rupert decided to amplify their efforts toward building a sense of community by creating a sustainable initiative for the school. The idea of a school garden was born. One of the active participants behind the project is Erika Boker, a grade 2 teacher at Roosevelt Park School with a passion for gardening. She explains, “every class is involved in different steps of this initiative which usually starts around Earth Day in late April. Tasks such as, mixing soil and planting seeds are split up. Once that is done the students do a series of observations around growth and sprouting. Boker stated, “what started with flower beds now produces a variety of fruits and vegetables such as beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, Swiss chard, beans, peas, blueberry, strawberry, and garlic using the permaculture system.” 

During the summer holidays, families volunteer to look after the garden to ensure everything continues to grow until September when students return to school. Boker adds that, “whatever is ready to be harvested while families are taking care of the garden is theirs to take home.” 

Pembina’s support 

Pembina has been a partner with the Breakfast Club of Canada (“BCC”) since 2016 in collaboration with Pembina’s signature giving and volunteering program, Fuel 4 Thought, which provides funding for breakfast programs in schools.  

Jaret Sprott, Pembina’s Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, is the Executive Sponsor of Fuel 4 Thought and a volunteer with the program. “It goes beyond making sure that kids get enough to eat”, he explains, “through our partnership with Breakfast Club of Canada, we’re also able to move the needle on a major social issue that impacts everything from education to wellness, and I’m very proud that Pembina continues to step up to the plate and deliver on our commitment to communities.” 

Craig Hilton, Manager of the Prince Rupert Terminal states, “although we are a newer member to the Prince Rupert community, Pembina is committed to exploring how we can work together with the city and surrounding communities on sustainability, health, education, training and employment opportunities”.  Pembina’s support provides a future full of opportunities for the Ecole Roosevelt Community School, which is currently in the process of establishing a more permanent community garden structure. The school plans to show students how to grow food and give everyone a chance to participate in the program.  

Through their community investment program, Pembina participates in local, provincial, and national non-profit and charitable organizations in support of safe, inclusive, and connected communities that foster a strong sense of belonging. 

In May 2021, Breakfast Club of Canada joined forces with Services Alimentaires Racines to set up a pilot project aimed at ensuring more children and youth could start their school day with a healthy breakfast.

Who is Services Alimentaires Racines?

Established in 2012, Services Alimentaires Racines is a social economy enterprise that provides food services to the local community in and around Huntingdon, Quebec. Fighting food insecurity at the local level is an important part of the organization’s mission.

Arthur-Pigeon School and Services Alimentaires Racines have been partnering to feed children for the past seven years. Staff members from the organization’s catering services go to the school to prepare meals that are then distributed to students in the surrounding area.

Enter BCC

Last year, a community partnership agreement was entered into between Breakfast Club of Canada and Services Alimentaires Racines to bring a hybrid menu to the students of Arthur-Pigeon School. Under the terms of the project, financed by BCC, Services Alimentaires Racines supplies the grains, fruits and vegetables, and the Club supplies the proteins directly from its warehouse.

The agreement was renewed at the beginning of the 2021–2022 school year to ensure students at Arthur-Pigeon School continued to have access to the program. Currently, that translates to roughly 250 breakfasts every day.

Onward and upward

In 2022, the pilot project was extended to include other schools as well. In January, Chateauguay Valley Regional High School, in Ormstown, switched to a different approach. Instead of having supplies dropped off to the school, the program rolled out a hybrid menu, which was made possible by the community partnership between BCC and Services Alimentaires Racines. Another 100 students are now part of the pilot project as a result. In April 2022, Heritage Regional High School in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, followed in these same footsteps, adding yet another 100 students to the roster.

Another actor in the fight against food waste

Les Complices Alimentaires is a collective project whose goal is to repurpose fruits and vegetables. Thanks to their work, rescuing surplus and unsellable products from grocery stores and other retail establishments, students have access to a variety of fresh, seasonal produce throughout the year. This group undertaking, alongside Services Alimentaires Racines and Breakfast Club of Canada, allows students from all three schools to be exposed to a wider range of food. When the growing season is over, Les Complices Alimentaires cans and preserves whatever is left to be enjoyed during the winter months. That way, nothing goes to waste!

Good things come to those who eat

The official metrics for the pilot project have not yet been released, but here is a sneak peek at some of the benefits that have already been observed:

• An increase in daily attendance at Chateauguay Valley Regional High School, which climbed as high as 50% in only a few months.
• Easier use, distribution and consumption of local products.
• Streamlined discussions between BCC, Services Alimentaires Racines and other front-line organizations such as Moisson Sud-Ouest and Cantine pour tous as a result of the approach being used.
• A lower staff turnover rate at Services Alimentaires Racines and an increase in production output. With financial support from BCC and others, the company was actually able to upgrade some of the kitchen equipment.
• Reduction in food waste, thanks to the contributions of Les Complices Alimentaires, a collective social enterprise.

One year after the launch of the project, we are happy to report that a total 450 students from these three schools enjoy a healthy breakfast every morning. Communication with the administration of Arthur-Pigeon School is very smooth, thereby laying the groundwork for future opportunities with other nearby schools.

Stay tuned!

Breakfast Club of Canada has been a proud partner of Nanaimo-Ladysmith Schools Foundation (NLSF) since 2015. They do a phenomenal job of mobilizing community resources in their network and preparing food deliveries for schools through their food depot. In 2021–2022, the number of schools supported by BCC under NLSF reached 21, with an average of 1,291 students benefiting daily.

In December, two BCC staff members had a chance to visit this dedicated Vancouver Island partner. The day brought several exciting moments as they joined NLSF’s Executive Director, Crystal Dennison, to visit several school programs and the food depot. They learned about the organization’s incredible local impacts along the way.

The first stop was Bayview Elementary School, where the breakfast program is run by the principal, Stephanie Stephens, and an educational assistant, Naomi Lajeunesse. Naomi has a strong passion for student nutrition and enjoys cooking and baking. She shared that NLSF’s food delivery service is highly appreciated because she wouldn’t have the time to shop for her breakfast program otherwise. Naomi praised NLSF’s healthy food support and how responsive Crystal is. “Time is the only thing that I wish I could have more of for the breakfast program,” said Naomi during the visit, which showed how limited staff resources are for running a breakfast program and emphasized the value of NLSF’s food delivery services.

The next stop was to one of the most robust school meal programs supported by NLSF, at John Barsby Community School. The program serves both breakfast and lunch in addition to providing food to five feeder schools. It is supported by Holly Knox, culinary arts teacher, and 25 students from her cooking program. There are two breakfast options: a centralized grab-and-go station and a classroom order delivery model. For the latter, students order from the menu, and meals are delivered to each classroom by cooking program participants. Holly couldn’t help but tear up when talking about how NLSF has helped the school grow the program to where it is today. She also thanked BCC for their generous and continuous support of NLSF.

The final stop was NLSF’s food depot, where all the magic happens! The food depot is where food donations and bulk purchases are sorted, stored and distributed to schools across the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district. Tracy Gilbert, NSLF’s School Food Coordinator, is usually there to help load the Food4Schools delivery vehicle. She gave a fantastic tour of the depot — a bright and spacious area that is well equipped with both dry and cold storage. Healthy food products were neatly arranged on the shelves for easy sorting and retrieval. Surprisingly, Tracy is the only staff member coordinating food logistics and sorting deliveries at the depot, with occasional help from community members.

The depot and the schools visited are all a part of an innovative and impactful system created by Tracy and Crystal and supported by many others. The program used to be run out of Tracy and Crystal’s office until it was relocated to a storage unit and finally to this beautiful and well-organized location. The two have been consistently working side by side to extend the program impacts to more students and school communities.

When asked what the future looked like for NLSF’s Food4Schools program, Crystal shared that they hope the depot can grow into a fully functioning commercial kitchen, where they can cook and prepare food for participating schools. The schools benefit greatly from having food items delivered to them, but they still need to spend time preparing meals every morning. Crystal hopes that one day NLSF can take on that responsibility to free up even more time for educators to focus on teaching while the organization takes care of feeding the students.

This is all part of visualizing a future where all children can be fed equitably, and communities can rise together. BCC greatly appreciates NLSF’s dedication in running such an amazing food program and making the most of the resources and networks at their disposal to sustain quality breakfast programs for local school communities.

If you would like to learn more about NLSF’s Food4Schools program, you can visit their website at: https://www.nlsf.ca/food4schools/

If you are interested in John Barsby Community School’s meal program, be sure to watch this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFkV2TANZ68

Creating a future full of possibility, joy & discovery: this is the ambitious mission that guides the Youth+Us program set up by K+S Potash Canada (KSPC). Since last year, the company has partnered with Breakfast Club of Canada to reach a greater number of Saskatchewan communities, helping to provide the food and nutrition local children need to thrive and become tomorrow’s thinkers, innovators, and leaders.

Many studies report that one of the key factors in healthy child development is reliable access to food and nutrition to nurture physical, emotional, and mental well-being. It’s an idea that the KSPC team understands well, as Lauren Bartel – Communications Coordinator at KSPC – explains. “Unfortunately, this is a daily struggle for many families in our communities, and knowing this, we felt we could make a difference through dedicated partnerships with the right organizations, such as Breakfast Club of Canada.”

K+S Potash Canada is part of the K+S Group, a German-based company that has been mining and processing potash and salt for over 125 years. KSPC is one of the world’s leading suppliers of mineral products, which are used in everything from agriculture to consumer products; it is headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but the majority of KSPC’s 400 employees are located nearer to the Bethune Mine, further south in the rural municipality of Dufferin. This mine was a ground-breaking venture, as the single largest project in the company’s history as well as being the first new potash mine built in Saskatchewan in more than 40 years.

Grateful for the opportunity to work within the province and experience all it has to offer, K+S Potash Canada started looking for ways to give back to the Saskatchewan communities that make their work possible. More than a decade later, KSPC now invests over $1.5 million annually back into Saskatchewan, with a specific focus on youth initiatives that help children get more chances to develop life skills, discover what drives them, and participate in new experiences.

“Our responsibility is to give back to the communities in which we live and work. Rather than stretching ourselves too thin trying to support everything, we focused our attention on youth initiatives,” says Bartel. “We feel this has the most potential for long-term, positive impact, because as those youth grow up, the experiences they’ve had will be replicated and passed along to their family and friends as well.”

Feeding a growing world

With potash being one of the world’s most effective crop fertilizers, KSPC operates in an industry that is adjacent to food production. The company is aware of food insecurity trends, and how a lack of adequate nutrition can affect young children not just in the moment, but for the rest of their lives.

“We believe this to be a critical issue across the province that needs to be addressed, but we also know that there are organizations – such as Breakfast Club of Canada – that can do so more effectively than we could on our own,” Bartel adds. “We are here to empower and enable those organizations to do what they do best.” This partnership fortifies Breakfast Club of Canada’s operations, particularly within Saskatchewan, where additional program expansions have occurred over the last year.

Breakfast Club of Canada’s Corporate Partnerships Advisor, Steven Letts, highlights the benefit even further. “KSPC has provided us with generous support through critical periods of the pandemic and beyond. They support many initiatives, including arts and athletic programs; the Club zeros in on nutrition, but we all are focused on improving the wellbeing of Canadian children and youth.”

Thank you, K+S Potash Canada, for your commitment to our cause. Together, we can empower the young people in our communities and create lasting, meaningful change. As Bartel perfectly sums it up: Let’s build a happier, healthier future!

Gallea, the largest visual arts gallery of independent artists in Canada, has teamed up with Breakfast Club of Canada for the first time for a creative endeavour aimed at raising funds and shining the spotlight on professional and budding artists alike, as part of a virtual exhibition launched October 18.  

Gallea aims to create the largest art distribution network in the world and make local art accessible everywhere to everyone. This dedication to accessibility of opportunities resonates deeply with BCC. “We share several core values with Gallea. And working together has also opened up a whole new avenue for raising funds,” explained Catherine Tremblay, Advisor, Foundations and Corporate Partnerships.  

A winning collaboration between Breakfast Club of Canada and Gallea 

The whole thing started with a drawing contest, where children were asked to send in their artwork via Facebook. A total of 20 submissions were picked to inspire Canadian artists to create the selections that are now on virtual display through the Small and Tall Artists Club on the Gallea website. Half of the proceeds from the sale of these works will go to Breakfast Club of Canada.  

Linzi Shang, Gallea’s co-founder, is actually a former breakfast program participant herself. She has lots of great memories of the Club. “The volunteers were so nice. They smiled and took the time to talk to me. I felt seen. I felt like I mattered. It’s the kind of experience that made me feel like I really belonged here in my adopted home of Quebec,” she explained. She is particularly happy to now be giving back to BCC through this wonderful initiative.  

You can learn more about Linzi’s story here. 

Artists inspiring artists across generations 

Over 40 artists from around the country answered the call to contribute to this initiative and, as a result, get more children’s day off to a healthy start. They were given carte blanche to come up with something inspired by one of the selected children’s drawings, representing one of three themes: friendship, sharing or learning. In addition to lending their artistic talents to the exhibition, the participating artists have helped raise BCC’s public visibility and generated additional buzz for the initiative through social media.   

Proud parents  

The parents of our aspiring artists were proud and excited to see their children’s artistic output take on a whole new form and, in so doing, help give back to other children. “It’s amazing how it all turned out! My kids loved being part of the experience and having the opportunity to contribute to such a worthy cause!” explained Joannie, mom to Alice, Cloé and Genève. 

The Small and Tall Artists Club exhibition, presented in collaboration with Breakfast Club of Canada, is currently on display on Gallea’s website. Half of the proceeds from the sale of the works in the exhibition will be donated to Breakfast Club of Canada.  

Enjoy!