In Canada, March is Nutrition Month, and once again this year, Breakfast Club of Canada is seizing the opportunity to discuss all aspects of healthy nutrition. 

On the menu this week: the Nutrition Committee

Healthy eating lies at the heart of the school food vision. If going to school on a full stomach can help children maintain proper concentration throughout the day, it’s easy to see how a rich and nutritious diet can enhance their focus even more.

Constantly seeking to improve and further support the school breakfast programs, the Club counts on the assistance of its Nutrition Committee. Made up of Club employees whose expertise are in healthy eating, school food and food security, the committee acts an advisory board and a liaison body for schools and on-the-ground partners across the nation.

Working collaboratively, the committee members tackle issues and challenges that their respective communities and schools face. Furthermore, the committee works on developing resources and tools that help to further support the growth of all BCC school breakfast programs.

At the organizational level, the Nutrition Committee offers advice on food procurement, food access, and nutrition standards related to school food programing. For instance, the committee is currently working on developing a strategy to encourage social equity and diversity in breakfast programs. Nutrition Committee members also provides recommendations on food products, recipes and menus for those overseeing and managing the programs.

As we celebrate Nutrition Month, let’s show some appreciation for the work accomplished by the Nutrition Committee members!

Catherine D’Amours
Programs Support Advisor

Catherine works hand in hand with the Club coordinators assigned to the different regions of Quebec, where close to 450 breakfast programs co-exist. She ensures the various programs align and acts as an advisor who provides advice and opinions on best practices, tools and processes.

A nutrition graduate, she invites parents and teachers to be open-minded in the kitchen: “We shouldn’t hesitate to present variety on children’s plates, nor should we get discouraged if they don’t show enthusiasm towards certain foods. Tastes evolve quickly at a young age, and the sooner we educate children about healthy nutrition, the more we increase their chances of succeeding in the long run.” Beyond quantity and quality of ingredients, Catherine invests much effort evaluating how to improve the overall meal experience so to impact youth positively in their development.

Chelsey Hazelton
Senior Program Coordinator

Chelsey is the main point of contact for close to 90 schools in Nunavut, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and southern Alberta. The main focus of her role is to support schools to run high quality breakfast programs across the board.

Over the past three years she has witnessed the Club’s support increase in Western Canada, where the number of children reached by Breakfast Club of Canada continues to grow. All breakfast programs are unique in that they adapt to their local realities and needs, and the committee is a great way to discuss and collaborate on resources to support nutrition in programs across Canada. Because the region she covers is massive and includes several Indigenous communities, the inclusion of culture and food traditions in programs are high on her priority list. She believes that now more than ever, it is important to stay engaged at the community level to be able to respond to local needs as they arise.

Virginie Marcoux
Programs Coordinator, Montreal and Lanaudière (Quebec)

Virginie is the most recent addition to the Nutrition Committee. As a dietician, she is particularly interested in public health and food security. Her experience makes her an advocate against the feelings of guilt that many parents face. She feels strongly that getting kids to eat healthy is about balance and variety, not perfection.

Representing the Club on community-level engagement projects such as La Cantine pour tous, she sees her role as that of the facilitator of a complex multistakeholder network whose goal is to reinforce collaboration to give way to more cohesive and sustainable food aid services. Mindful of letting the community speak for itself and of allowing for a diversity of voices to be heard, Virginie approaches her work with sensitivity and scrutiny.

Maxine Lam
Coordinator, Manitoba and Alberta North-East

Maxine understands the realities of rural and remote communities, she completed her Master’s thesis at the University of Manitoba studying the sustainability of school breakfast programs. Her day-to-day role involves working closely and collaboratively with schools in both urban and northern communities.

A large portion of Maxine’s work is dedicated to food accessibility projects. Transportation and food availability are very real issues for some of the schools she supports, which in turn affects the cost and quality of products. Beyond her day-to-day work with schools, she is deeply motivated by the public engagement aspect of her work: “It’s important for people to know that the socioeconomic situation of families is not the only factor explaining why a child might go to school on an empty stomach. Many other factors can come into play.”

Are you looking for ideas of activities to do or recipes to try during spring break or Nutrition Month? Check out our recipe book!

A Club partner since 2018, BC Dairy provides generous bi-weekly donations of fresh dairy products to six Breakfast Club of Canada programs in Chilliwack and Agassiz, British Columbia, ensuring 500 students a day can benefit from increased food access in the region! Thanks to this project, the breakfast program coordinators at each of our partner schools can get creative with their meals and ensure their students have a nutritious and delicious start to their day! 

An integral partner in the BC Dairy project is Seabird Island Community School (Lalme’ Iwesawtexw) just outside of Agassiz, BC, part of the Stó:lō territory. With their large kitchen and full-time culinary staff, Seabird provides meals for 180 Kindergarten to grade 12 students per day, that’s over 1200 breakfasts a week! Coordinator Kim Smith has worked with The Breakfast Club of Canada to expand the reach of BC Dairy’s donations not just to her school, but to as many students in her community as possible, involving Agassiz Elementary Secondary School (AESS) and Agassiz Centre for Education into the project as well. Every two weeks, an order of fresh milk, yogurt and cheese arrives at Seabird, enough for the Club’s 3 breakfast programs in the region. Kim manages and separates the order and arranges the distribution of the food products, ensuring there is absolutely no food waste in the process. Her students’ favourite breakfasts are yogurt & berries, and scrambled eggs with rice, but they’re most excited about Chef’s Special days when their meals are a creative surprise!

Shannon Rigby-Jones (aka Mrs. RJ), the Nutrition Teacher at AESS, works closely with Kim to ensure their students across both schools have what they need for a successful breakfast. Mrs. RJ has incorporated her high school students’ Nutrition classes into their daily breakfast program. These classes prepare hundreds of meals per week, from tropical overnight oats with pineapple, to yogurt and berry parfaits, and protein boxes featuring fresh veggies, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. This school year, AESS has had to shift their program from a hot breakfast to a grab & go model to adapt to social distancing guidelines, but the good news is that with these new recipes, they are able to offer more meals than ever to their students throughout the day, and exercise creativity in the classroom by playing around with new flavour combinations every week.

“We are extremely grateful to The Breakfast Club, and BC Dairy Association for their generosity and on-going commitment and support of this very important project.  It ensures not only our children at Seabird, but children in surrounding communities as well are receiving the nutrition they need daily.” – Kim Smith

Waachiye!

We are pleased to be celebrating a special victory: thanks to the close collaboration of the Eeyou Nation (Cree) in Quebec and Breakfast Club of Canada, more than 4,500 students in 16 elementary and high schools now have access to a school breakfast program! 

During our first visit to these Northern communities in 2013 to provide support and raise awareness, BCC’s Indigenous programs advisor questioned the longer-term feasibility of supporting so many large school populations in these remote areas. Eight years and one regional partnership later, and it looks like we may have figured it out!

Our adventure with the Eeyou Istchee schools (Cree Nation) began in 2011 with the support of the Wemindji community. It wasn’t until 2015 (Waswanipi) and 2019 (Ouje-Bougoumou) that other local Cree schools joined in.

Since then, both the regional organizations we work with and our advisors and coordinators have accomplished a great deal. Their hard work deserves our praise and recognition.

In 2017, we reached out to the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay and, shortly after that, to the Cree School Board to join forces in setting up a universal breakfast program for all Eeyou Istchee schools. We are very fortunate to be working alongside strong leaders in both organizations. They have been, and continue to be, invaluable allies in making our shared vision a reality. Although 2019–2020 proved to be especially challenging with the arrival of COVID-19, our partnership has made it possible to keep making food deliveries to families with children in most communities.

We have seen many ups and downs along the way, but we finally opened breakfast programs in Chisasibi, in the two remaining Eeyou Nation schools without a program, namely James Bay Eeyou School and Waapinichikush Elementary, in December. Together these two schools have more than 1,000 students. The first food delivery to the community was awaited with great anticipation, and the programs have been very successful indeed, as indicated by their respective administrations:

“We have only had positive results since starting our breakfast program. Students are getting to school on time for a change, and they now have the energy to get through the morning!”

Principal, James Bay Eeyou School, Chisasibi

“The students’ basic needs are met, and they are more focused in class. They are happy to have good, nutritious snacks and look forward to them every day.”

Principal, Waapinichikush Elementary School, Chisasibi

Meegwetch to everyone who has helped make this happen!

Useful Links

• Cree National Government: https://www.cngov.ca
• Cree School Board: https://eeyoueducation.ca
• Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay: https://www.creehealth.org/home

by Noelle Martin from Motherhood and Meals
Registered dietitian

This recipe checks ALL the boxes, and it is a great one to get kids to help with, too!

Ingredients

• 1 c. (250 mL) cooked quinoa
• 1 c. (250 mL) rolled oats
• ⅔ (150 mL) pumpkin seeds
• ⅔ (150 mL) natural peanut butter (or any nut/seed butter you have on hand)
• ¼ c. (60 mL) pitted dates (or raisins)
• ¼ c. (60 mL) honey
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) cinnamon
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

Preparation

1. Put all ingredients into your food processor.  Blend on low speed for 1 minute, and then on high until all ingredients are mixed together.
2. Form into balls and serve! (It is best to store leftovers in the fridge.)

Thank you to our collaborator for this delicious recipe!

by Noelle Martin from Motherhood and Meals
Registered dietitian

Enjoy with your favourite fruit, yogurt, nut butter and/or maple syrup. Delish!

Yield: 4 servings
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15–25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ⅓ c. (75 mL) applesauce
• 1 c. (250 mL) milk
• 2 Tbsp. (30 mL) maple syrup
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla
• 1 c. (250 mL) oats
• 1 c. (250 mL) whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) baking powder
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) ground cinnamon

Preparation

1. Mash the banana. Peel the banana and place it into your mixing bowl. Then use a fork to mash it down.
2. Mix the wet ingredients. Add egg, applesauce, milk, syrup and vanilla to the bowl the mashed banana is in. Stir until all ingredients are blended together.
3. Add the dry ingredients. Add oats, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir until they are blended but try to not overmix.
4. Cook the pancakes. Pour ⅓ c. (75 mL) batter into a prepared frying pan and cook on medium heat for about 4 minutes. Once the first side is cooked, flip over with a spatula. Cook the second side for an additional 3–5 minutes. Move to a plate.
5. Repeat with remaining batter. If you have a large pan you can cook more than one pancake at once.

Thank you to our collaborator for this delicious recipe!

Get into the holiday spirit with these delicious muffins!

Serves: 12
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• 2¾ c. (650 mL) grated carrot (3 large carrots)
• 2 c. (500 mL) grated sweet potato
• 3 small bananas, sliced
• ½ c. (125 mL) dried cranberries
• 6 large eggs
• 2 c. (500 mL) whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. (10 mL) baking powder
• 3 tbsp (45 mL) cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) honey
• Pinch of cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. Mix it all up and separate into greased or lined muffin tins.
3. Bake for 35 minutes.

With the latest numbers pointing to an 80% upsurge in food insecurity in Canada since the onset of the pandemic, breakfast programs supported by individual donors, corporate partners and governments are more important than ever. We are very fortunate to be able to count on a strong, engaged network of donors who believe in investing in children’s success.

What starts for some as a personal investment of their time and energy can sometimes turn into a longer-term commitment. The Club recently heard from Chantal Sawyer, who taught special education at Saint-Joseph School in Saint-Jérôme, Québec, for 12 years. She witnessed first-hand the impact breakfast programs have on students’ academic performance and overall well-being. Seeing every day what food insecurity does to a child and knowing that the needs are, sadly, greater than ever, she felt the need to double-down on her commitment to the Club’s programs to make sure they will always be there, beyond her lifetime, to help young people. She contacted the Club in 2019 to let us know she had provided for us in her will.

“I made a bequest to the Club because it’s vital children get something to eat before they start their school day. Without it, all they can think about is how hungry they are. That means they’re not ready to learn. Nobody would be.

I remember that the volunteers at that school stayed around longer for students who didn’t have time to eat breakfast at home. We were lucky to have the same volunteers year after year, which created a real sense of stability. I was touched by how dedicated they were.

No matter the circumstances —whatever time it was, whether it was in the middle of a blizzard or an ice storm, even if it made them a half-hour late — I always made sure my kids had eaten. And I don’t want that to ever, ever, ever, ever stop. It should never come to an end. Even now, I have a small fridge in my classroom because the school I work at doesn’t have a breakfast program,” she told us.

A bequest is an easy, convenient and meaningful way for anyone to give to a favourite charity, although it is still largely unknown. There are several options available: you can leave a specific amount or a small percentage of your estate, which will have no impact on your financial situation during your lifetime. What’s more, a receipt will be issued to your estate when the time comes, which will reduce the amount of tax owing. The resulting benefits will help ensure your heirs don’t lose out.

If you’d like to learn more about planned giving or, if like Ms. Sawyer, you have already included a provision for the Club in your will, contact us at planned.giving@breakfastclubcanada.org so we can thank you and acknowledge your generosity.

Legal notice

We would be happy to assist you in your philanthropic planning but we are not qualified to provide any financial or legal advice. Please talk to a professional who is familiar with your financial circumstances.

Chelsea Hausler, the program coordinator at Georges P. Vanier School, has set up a legacy hours program where students can volunteer with the school breakfast program to help plan and serve breakfast. As part of the school’s graduation requirements, each student is required to volunteer 25 hours toward an initiative that supports the community. In this interview, Chelsea talks about the impact and value of this new program.

At the school, my role is a wellness coach, so I do a couple different things. I promote mental health, physical health, nutrition and community engagement — those are our four pillars. Doing the breakfast program comes under our nutrition mandate and is now a big part of my role.

What are legacy hours and how can they be applied? How did you come up with the idea of breakfast program volunteering for legacy hours?

At Georges P. Vanier, legacy hours are a non-negotiable 25 hours from every student before they graduate from high school. There are a variety of ways for them to fulfill this requirement, but the idea is to come up with a project or idea in the community. Some kids have cut grass, for example, or, pre-COVID, helped seniors in the community. Others have raised funds for a cause. It’s something that allows kids to explore what they’re passionate about and give back to the community. So we thought that some kids might be interested in volunteering with the breakfast program. And now we have seven of them who are with me every morning.

What has the impact been for the kids and the school? Have the student volunteers given you any direct feedback?

Five of them have said that they want to do it next year, which was really exciting. They said they enjoy it and the time goes by fast, which makes for an easy start to their morning. In terms of the general school feedback, it’s been very good. At first, kids would be hesitant, saying, “Am I allowed to take more than one thing?” Our answer was always the same: “It’s fine. That’s what we’re here for.” It probably took about five days for kids to take a little bit of everything. Right now, we probably have about 90% accessing the food. We have a lot of kids in our school who feel they may not be entitled to it because they have food at home, but because our rural catchment area is so big and the bus leaves so early, they often choose not to eat breakfast before they leave. They roll out of bed, put on their clothes and get on the bus. There are also a fair number of kids who don’t have access to fresh food at home. So now that we have fresh food and fruit available, they’re more likely to fill up on those!

What advice would you give other schools trying to streamline student volunteers into their breakfast program?

Encourage them by saying it’s a good place to help the community and show them how all these little pieces come together and have a big result. Some people may think, “But it’s only seven kids.” But without these seven kids, we couldn’t offer what we do. They’re instrumental to our success. And there are some kids who aren’t in the same peer group but are building relationships with one another. In the hallways before class, they now have that ease of communication.

The kids make the breakfast program fun, and it’s nice from a facilitator’s perspective to see them develop their leadership skills. You figure out the dynamics pretty quickly. You think, “Oh, OK, these two will delegate and lead and the other kids will listen.” So it fosters more than food prep education and budgeting, which is great to see.

Creamy and lemony, this dip adds a fresh note to your dishes, perfect for the summer season!

Serves: ~1 cup | Prep Time: 5 mins | Total Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp lemon peel, finely shredded
• Salt
• 1 ^1/2 cups milk
• 1/8 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan.
2. Stir in flour, lemon peel and salt.
3. Continue stirring until mixture begins to thicken.
4. Add milk and lemon juice and stir over medium heat until bubbly and thick.

Help Breakfast Club of Canada and our partners make a difference in the lives of even more children. Give today!

For more healthy, tastebud-tantalizing recipes, check out the Club’s new cookbook!

Ginger Moyah, the principal at Grassy Plains School, shares how they have used funding to purchase five grow towers.

Grow towers rely on what is called a hydroponic system that promotes plant growth without soil. It instead uses motorized pumps, water and a nutrient solution to grow herbs, fruits and other types of plants. Each system has numerous units and slots on the sides of the system, where each plant is stored. Check out this interview with Ginger to learn more about how these grow towers supplement their breakfast program:

What were the beginnings of the grow towers?

So, we’re still kind of getting our feet under us with it. We ended up getting some funding through our local reserves, as well as our AVID coordinator, and Breakfast Club of Canada gave additional funds. We were able to purchase five grow towers, so that would be one for every one of our classrooms, and right now we’re just trying to figure them all out. One classroom sadly lost their crop to some bugs that came on though.

What kind of crops are the kids growing?

We’ve basically just started with the seeds that came with the kit. There is lettuce, arugula, kale, Swiss chard and basil, mostly greens so we can make salads and stuff with the kids. And, oh my goodness, the kids love it.

What has the feedback from the students been?

When they go to the kindergarten class, it doesn’t matter when or why there’s one little kindergarten girl who always shouts “MRS. MOYAH, COME LOOK AT THE BABIES!” She brings me over to see how big they’ve grown because they actually grow quite a bit faster than a regular garden. They have more light and nutrients so that’s pretty cool to watch. And all the kids are excited and keep an eye on everything.

And now you will be able to grow all year, right, because they’re indoors?

Exactly, which is huge for us too, because we live in quite a cold climate up here. Our growing time is the end of May until the end of August, basically. So much different than our traditional gardens. And for several years, we’ve been trying to garden with a community garden that’s right off our school property. But oftentimes, by the time we get back in September, because it is a community garden, people have already harvested a lot of the crops so the kids go through so much work and then they don’t get to see the rewards. The grow towers have been an amazing alternative to that.

How did you come up with the idea?

It was actually inspired from another principal in our district who started it at their school in town. And it was something that I’ve always wanted to do in my house. Growing and gardening has always been something that the school has tried to do but hasn’t had much success with, so we’re hoping this will be something that could be more sustainable during their school months because we don’t have our kids when the plants are actually growing in the ground outside. They don’t get to really see the full growth cycle of the vegetables and plants.

We’re you impacted this year by the changes?

Well, we’re just getting going; our plans are to not only supplement our hot lunch program because it would mostly be supplementing it with kale and breakfast smoothies. So, it will most likely benefit the lunch program. If we get production going enough, then we can send some stuff in healthy food boxes to some of our community members or our families in need. We’re hoping that we can have a great impact on our community.

Most people think of school breakfast programs as a way of making sure students get the nutrition they need to fuel their academic performance.

But what they don’t necessarily consider is all the social perks these programs have for their young members.

In connection with International Friendship Day, we talked to Linzi, who was a breakfast program enrollee when she was younger. She used to eat breakfast at school several times a week, but not because of food insecurity. It was a way for her to make friends and learn more about the culture of her adopted home of Quebec.

Her family came here from China when she was six years old. They moved to the Montreal suburb of LaSalle when she was eight. That’s when she first heard about Breakfast Club of Canada. With both her parents working and two other siblings at home, mornings in her household tended to be hectic. Her family made the decision to sign her up for the breakfast program so she could enjoy a calmer start to the day and have the time to eat a full, wholesome breakfast before the first bell rang.

It was there, over breakfast, that Linzi realized that overcoming linguistic barriers and engaging in a conversation with her fellow students wasn’t as difficult as it first seemed.

“With all the food there was to choose from, it created an environment where, even if I didn’t really know very many kids, I could say things like, ‘Oh, is that what you picked?’, ‘And you took that?’ ‘Is that good?’ or ‘I like this one the best.’ It gave us something in common we could talk about.”

One of the benefits of the breakfast program for Linzi was all the friendships that emerged from it, with students at all grade levels.

“I made tons of friends through Breakfast Club of Canada because it had nothing to do with school as such. But I would see some of my classmates there, too. After you have breakfast, you have the energy you need to begin your day, but it also means you feel less rushed.”

Linzi and the other kids would chat over breakfast, regardless of their differing ages or grade levels. They all looked out for one another. The older kids would help the younger ones, for example, by going to get them a utensil they didn’t have. And the more experienced breakfast program enrollees were quick to show the newbies the ropes, she explained.

She has lots of great memories of her time with Breakfast Club of Canada. One that stands out in her mind is an encounter she had with an older student.

“I remember I was finishing up something I really liked, but I was too shy to get up and get seconds. Breakfast was almost over, and the volunteers were starting to clean up. That’s when one of the older kids who hadn’t eaten his said to me, ‘You can have mine if you want.’”

Linzi also has fond recollections of her first school breakfast. She felt a little lost, but she remembers the volunteers who walked her in and made her feel instantly at home.

“They were so nice. They smiled, took the time to talk to me, and said, ‘Hi, how are you today?’ to every child who came in and paid close attention to them. I felt seen. I felt like I mattered. When you show up with a tray and you don’t know a soul, it’s a little scary. It really helped me come out of my shell. It’s this type of experience that definitely shaped my sense of belonging with the Quebec community.”

Today, Linzi is the co-founder and director of operations at the Gallea art gallery, Canada’s largest online art gallery and exhibition venue. Not only does she work in the operations division, she is also an artist herself. It was important to her to make sure other children can have the same positive experience she did when she was younger. Fun fact, Gallea is also one of the Club’s newest partners.

Breakfast programs influence children’s lives in countless ways. You can learn more about BCC’s impact.