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.

This recipe has been adapted from OnceUponAChef.com

The festive season is almost upon us and what better way to celebrate than with lots of yummy food! Strata casseroles are perfect for this time of year since they can be made in big batches the day before and customized to what you have on hand. This comforting recipe is also the perfect way to use up any leftovers you may have (bread, fruits, veggies, milk, cheese) before schools close for the holidays!

Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients

• 1 lb (454 g) chopped frozen spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 c. (2 L) whole wheat bread, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes (about 11 slices)
• 2 (500 mL) grated cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, feta — whatever cheese you’d like!)
• 9 large eggs
• 2¾ c. (680 mL) milk of choice
• 1 tsp. (5 mL) salt
• ¾ tsp. (3.75 mL) black pepper
• ¼ (1.25 mL) ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp. (30 mL) Dijon mustard(optional)

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and drained spinach, and cook 2 minutes more. Set aside.
2. Grease a 9′ x 13′ (23 cm x 33 cm) baking dish. Spread a third of the bread cubes in the dish and top evenly with a third of the onion-spinach mixture. Sprinkle with a third of the cheese. Repeat layering twice, ending with cheese.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and Dijon (if using) and whisk until well combined. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the strata. Cover the strata with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
4. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Bake the strata, uncovered, until puffed, set and golden brown all over top, 70–75 minutes. Let stand 10–15 minutes before serving.

Try customizing this recipe by substituting different vegetables for the spinach (roasted squash cubes, steamed broccoli, chopped peppers). You can also try experimenting with a sweet variation by skipping the onion, garlic, cheese and mustard and adding in:

• 3 sliced bananas, ½ c. pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, ⅓ sugar

OR

• 3 sliced apples, ½ c. raisins, ⅓ c. brown sugar

For more recipes, click here!

At Ste-Thérèse School, located in St-Honoré-de-Shenley (Qc), a teacher had the idea of involving the students of his grade six class in the breakfast club and now they are the ones who manage the entire program for their school! Here is a discussion with the students and Frédéric Leclerc, a teacher who dared and succeeded!

What made you step in and take over the coordination of the breakfast program at your school?

Students: Breakfast Club of Canada has been an important part of our school for a long time. We have always had volunteers to make the meals every morning, and some years we had a bunch of people signing up. It’s a true need in our school community. Lots of kids don’t eat breakfast or don’t get the chance to start their day off with something healthy. There are also plenty of students who’d come to school without anything to snack on, and they’d ask for something because they were hungry. With COVID and all the changes it has brought, we barely had anybody volunteering this year. And we didn’t want to take the risk of losing the breakfast program. Something had to be done, and our teacher had the crazy idea that maybe we could take over!

What gave you the idea to get the students involved?

Frédéric: I’m a teacher who tries to do things a little differently. I like it when students are really involved in their own learning. I want things to be hands-on and inspired by day-to-day realities, and I want them to make connections with everything they learn. My teaching is based on the deep learning method. We use things that happen in real life to get students engaged in their learning. These are opportunities for them to realize how important some things are. We work on them in the classroom and then turn them into a project. So there was an opportunity there to put the students in charge of the breakfast program, and quite frankly it has been a huge success.

What made you agree to get involved?

Students: We wanted to do something good for the school without receiving anything in return. Helping make sure our friends and other students get breakfast in the morning, can try new foods, eat healthy and have access to good snacks… We can a learn a lot from this, and what we learn will stay with us all our lives.

What kind of responsibilities do you have?

Students: With the Club, we’ve learned a bunch of new things. We’ve learned how to work together, even with people we weren’t necessarily used to working with. We’ve learned to do a lot more on our own. This project pushes us to try new things and, if worse comes to worst, make mistakes! We’ve also gotten better at public speaking because we have to explain what’s on the menu, how the Club works, announce new things and other stuff every day. The teachers have been surprised by what we’ve accomplished. They didn’t think we could handle it all. Some people go in early to wash the fruit and get the food out we need. They take things out of the freezer for the next day. They also sanitize the work stations, check the fridge temperatures and make sure everything is OK. We have two-student teams assigned to each classroom. We take the food and place it in the bin, and then we hand it out in the classroom. We go back around 9 a.m. and pick up whatever’s left and put it back in the fridge, in the box or in the cupboard. Then we rinse out whatever’s recyclable, and we take it to the recycling bins outside.

We take inventory once a month and fill out an order form for whatever we need and send it to the Club’s coordinator. We also have to phone in our milk order, and when it gets here students make sure we rotate what we have so nothing gets wasted. It’s the same for our big food orders. One team unpacks everything while another checks to make sure all the items are there. Then another team checks the expiry dates and rotates everything. We have to be very careful and follow all the food safety rules. Frédéric showed us how to wash our hands the right way and how they do it in restaurants. Plus, we have a budget to follow, and we have to calculate the taxes and look for sales when we buy groceries. We handle all the money and make sure that the cashier gives us the right change. With all this to take care of, we’ve had to find solutions and ways to make it work. We’ve learned how to manage it and this’ll be totally important later on, in math class and in our everyday life when we’re planning a meal for our friends or a big party or something.

How have the students reacted? Were they into the whole idea from the beginning?

Frédéric: They’ve never been more motivated, and I can use this in the classroom too. If you want to be involved in the breakfast program, you have to do whatever’s expected of you in class. It works out really well. The kids love doing it, and even when I give them other duties, they take them and ask for more! I’m also starting to look at them in a whole new light. Some kids who struggle academically really shine in this project.

How have you had a positive impact on your school’s breakfast program?

Students: The program is doing really well, and students are eating a healthy breakfast every morning, and that’s because of us. They all get a snack and they love that. We are introducing them to new foods and we’re giving without expecting to get anything back. We’re helping out and enjoying our own breakfast at school too. We have even had to start placing bigger orders, because the kids at school are eating it all up every morning. The bins come back empty. It’s so cool!

What kind of advice would you give to teachers or program leads to encourage them to get students involved in their breakfast programs?

Frédéric: You just have to jump in with both feet. Don’t overthink it. Once you’re into it, you’ll be able to sidestep the obstacles you run into along the way. You can’t plan for every problem, but the important thing is to stay flexible. For example, if the extra waste the program generates overloads your dumpster, you might want to step up your recycling efforts. You have to be prepared to invest lots of time at the start. A month into it, I can now let them do more on their own. They make mistakes, and that’s only natural. They’re kids, and that’s what kids do. But they learn, and that’s the beauty of it. You also have to be prepared to push a little. Making a change, doing something different, that always shakes things up a little. I’m doing this for the kids, so they can learn and want to come to school, for it to be meaningful to them. Sometimes you can’t let a few negative comments or criticisms stop you.

You have to be bold and think big! And why not?

Recipe by Anick Lamothe – Une mère poule un peu dingue

It may be better to give than to receive — but not necessarily when it comes to this hearty and filling soup.

Yield: 6 to 8 jars | Preparation time: 15 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• ½ c. (125 mL) brown lentils
• ½ c. (125 mL) dried mixed vegetable flakes
• ¼ c. (60 mL) rice
• ¼ c. (60 mL) pearl barley
• ¼ c. (60 mL) spelt
• ½ c. (125 mL) sundried tomatoes, cut in thin strips*
• ¼ c. (60 mL) vegetable bouillon powder
• 2 Tbsp. (30 mL) nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp. (30 mL) mixed Italian herbs

*Do not use oil-packed tomatoes for this recipe!

For cooking

• 10 c. (2.5 L) water
• 1 28 oz (796 mL) diced Italian tomatoes

Preparation

1. Spread the lentils out evenly at the bottom of a mason jar, then continue layering with the vegetable flakes, rice, barley, spelt, dried tomatoes, bouillon powder, nutritional yeast and Italian herbs for a striped effect. Seal the jar and keep upright.
2. To make the soup, pour the contents of the jar into a stock pot. Add the water and diced tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Click here for more recipes!

Recently, two breakfast programs welcomed special visitors. At Maillard Middle School in Coquitlam, BC, professional athletes and BCC ambassadors Lindsey Butterworth and Justin Kent served up breakfast to students. In Montreal, QC, chef and entrepreneur Geneviève Everell had the chance to visit a new program at Evangeline School.

Be sure to read our blog article to discover what happened and see the videos of their visits!

Maillard Middle School

Maillard Middle School has been a part of Breakfast Club of Canada since 2013, and youth worker Lisa Haines has been running the program for the last five years.

Like other coordinators, Lisa has had to adjust her service during the pandemic, changing it from a drop-in, sit-down breakfast in the cafeteria to a grab & go–style program. The excellent quality of her breakfasts hasn’t changed, however. Her students’ favourites are the fresh vegetable sandwich, filled with hummus, spinach, cucumbers, bell peppers and cheese, and the banana oat pancakes. Her secret is soaking the oats in milk overnight for a heartier texture, and the bananas are sweet enough that syrup is not needed at all. If there are any leftovers, students are welcome to grab a bag for a snack or for lunch.

Lindsey and Justin had a great time visiting Maillard Middle School and connecting with some of the breakfast program’s enthusiastic regulars.

As ambassadors, Lindsey and Justin want to contribute to fundraising and promoting BCC’s values to provide youth with healthy nutritional opportunities and education.

“I have a passion for health promotion and a keen interest in advocating healthy behaviour through proper nutrition in youth. Learning about food security in my undergraduate degree and volunteering with the breakfast program at my local community centre really instilled the importance of access to a healthy breakfast in me. I want to continue to promote and increase accessibility to breakfast programs across the country with Breakfast Club of Canada.” Lindsey Butterworth

“I believe in the importance of equal opportunity for youth to have access to proper nutrition. Growing up in Surrey, British Columbia, an inner-city school system, I witnessed the positive impact of a breakfast program. I hope I can make a difference so that youth are properly fuelled to achieve their goals. No one should chase their dreams on an empty stomach.” Justin Kent

Watch this video to find out their reason for teaming up with us and why they believe in school breakfast programs.

Évangeline School

Located in the north end of Montreal, Évangeline School is home to over 800 senior high school students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. In addition to mainstream classes, the school also offers specialized and vocational preparation programs for students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Starting in fall 2021, Samia Abbassa, a school staff member and the breakfast program site coordinator, has been there every morning to greet students from the regular program who begin to pour in at 7:30 a.m. She sets up in the cafeteria and serves breakfast to anyone who wants it. While she is catering to them, she is also preparing bins for the students in the ASD classes, who prefer to have breakfast in their own classroom, where any sensory issues are easier to cope with.

Every morning, a student from each of the ASD classes is tasked with picking up the breakfast food bin and later returning any leftovers to Samia, along with the reusable utensils to be washed. This kind of involvement in the breakfast program can represent a big step in developing students’ sense of responsibility. The benefits of the breakfast program are therefore twofold: it is an excellent source of nutrition and a solution for working through unique challenges.

BCC ambassador Geneviève Everell recently went to visit students at Évangeline School, where she rolled up her sleeves to serve up a delicious breakfast to the teens.

Entrepreneur, author, franchisor, speaker and former BCC enrollee Geneviève Everell is the wiz behind Sushi à la maison. Hers is a truly remarkable story. The breakfast program she attended at elementary school helped mitigate the food insecurity she experienced at home.

“Your organization made such a huge difference in my life. I never thought one day I’d be able to say THANK YOU!” Geneviève Everell 

Watch the video here (in French only).