Throughout the province, school districts, families and citizen groups have been concerned about children not having access to enough (or healthy) food. Many school meal programs were cut in the past, due to budget constraints, thus leaving a gap in food security for many struggling families.
At the April 19 Powell River Board of Education meeting, chairperson Dale Lawson said during her opening remarks that the recent announcement from BC’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and Child Care on the province’s multi-year investment in the new Feeding Futures program is welcome news.
“As busy parents deal with global inflation, school food programs can help reduce the pressure on their wallets while tackling student hunger,” Rachna Singh, minister of education and child care, stated in the media release. The MOE wants to “work with local schools to make sure kids are fed and ready to learn.”
School District 47 (SD47) welcomed this injection of cash in order to address food insecurity in its student population.
The provincial government stated that it “is investing $214 million over three years, so school districts can create or expand local food programs in schools throughout BC.” More specifically, “the funds will be used for purchasing food and hiring dedicated staff to coordinate providing meals and snacks to students.”
SD47 already has a robust garden and food-growing program. The Landed Learning program run by coordinator Vanessa Sparrow, provides garden-based learning and food preparation skills to students. They plant, tend, harvest and cook with fresh food. However, as positive as this program is, it still is not enough to narrow the gap, when it comes to accessing regular meals.
“Funding is essential to build capacity toward stigma-free access to healthy, local food for students,” said Lawson.
Spring is a busy time for the school district, amping up school gardens and outdoor spaces, bike clubs are meeting again and field trips are being planned after COVID-19 put a halt to most group activities.
“Plans are underway to focus on student transitions to Brooks [Secondary School] and thoughts start to shift toward leaving ceremonies, celebrations and events,” said Lawson.
Brooks students are active in the community, and recently, Townsite Jazz Festival included a jazz and charcuterie concert event featuring local students from the secondary school. SD47 elementary school students had the opportunity to sing alongside Canadian jazz singer Heather Bambrick and the Brooks choir at the festival.
Rotarians Joyce Carlson and Lisa Gunn gave a presentation at the meeting about two Rotary Club programs: Festival of Performing Arts and Brooks Interact Club. Carlson mentioned that the performing arts festival is turning 80 this year.
Brooks Interact organizes student-led, community volunteer and fundraising activities throughout the year. This year the group organized a community concession, held a tailgate party, organized pumpkin carving and a fun event called “bring your own banana.” All fundraising donations are put toward groups in need such as BC SPCA, a Ukrainian family who recently moved to the region, and the Patricia Theatre.
“Interact is in 109 countries around the world,” said Gunn.
They [Interact] want to recruit new participants, and Gunn admitted, “one of the big draws for students is pizza.”
School board treasurer Steve Hopkins said the MOE is funding three projects costing $2 million, one being a mechanical ventilation upgrade. This project began last summer at James Thomson Elementary School and Kelly Creek Community School.
Another issue brought up was school bus access at the Texada Island ferry terminal and conflict with road traffic, which was brought to the board’s attention by a concerned citizen. According to Hopkins, while the board did look into the matter, the result of the investigation found that BC Ferries has these issues at most smaller terminals, but have mitigation plans in place to avoid potential issues by using flaggers to direct traffic.
Another topic regarding Texada was that a Parents Advisory Committee (PAC) wants to reestablish itself on the island.
Lawson went on to mention that April 16 to 22 was National Volunteer Week, with the theme: Volunteering Weaves Us Together.
“Many of the goings on I’ve touched on today are supported by volunteer efforts,” said Lawson.
The month end financial report, as of March 31, was presented. The school board has been more aggressive with its spending this year and had 27 per cent of its budget remaining as of March 31, as opposed to 32 per cent for the same period last year.
