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

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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.

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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).

This past October, our Club coordinators visited one of our recently opened programs for the first time. Annieville Elementary School in Delta, BC — the traditional territory of the Tsawwassen and Musqueam First Nations — started its program with Breakfast Club of Canada in fall of 2020.

Fast forward to a year later, and the program is now a well-oiled machine, involving school staff and local businesses to offer some morning cheer every school day.

Each morning, youth worker Sara Glennon and education assistant Christine Mitzel pack individual breakfasts in reusable bento boxes, purchased last year with the Club’s equipment grant. Breakfasts are planned out in advance each week by Sara, who orders groceries online and picks them up every Monday.

The program makes sure no students are left out, including those requiring a gluten- or gelatin-free meal. Food is prepared in a separate area and served in different coloured boxes and serving trays to ensure there is no cross-contamination. Currently, breakfasts are delivered to classrooms, with teachers communicating the number of meals needed to make planning a breeze and ensure there is minimal waste.

Collaboration is essential, according to principal Jann Kwasnicki, whose goal is to see this program run independently, regardless of who may be leading the school administration in the future. Once it is safe to do so, the team plans to use the multi-purpose room attached to the kitchen as the breakfast room, where they are hoping to make the atmosphere homelike and comfortable for students to enjoy a warm meal together, socialize and start their day off right.

This school year, Annieville Elementary has enlisted the support of the local Walmart, which has generously donated coolers to keep food cold before serving and has raised funds for the school. The Rotary Club of Tsawwassen also supports Annieville Elementary with their Starfish Backpack program, and local firefighters chip in with monthly snack food donations.

Thanks to the collective efforts of school staff and the local community, the students of Annieville Elementary can enjoy a nutritious and delicious breakfast each day.

For Nutrition Month, Breakfast Club of Canada has teamed up with child nutritionist Mélanie Magnan (nutrimini.com) to bring you a simple, irresistible breakfast recipe that kids and parents alike are bound to love. One of Mélanie’s mantras is “Healthy eating should be fun.” Mission accomplished!

Photo credit: Nutrimini

Ingredients (for 1 pizza)

• 1 mini watermelon disc, about 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter, sliced approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick
• ½ c. (125 mL) vanilla-flavoured Greek yogurt
• ½ kiwi, sliced
• 1 or 2 strawberries, sliced
• 12 a dozen fresh blueberries
• ¼ c. (60 mL) mixed granola
• 1–2 Tbsp. (15 mL–30 mL) desiccated coconut

Preparation

• Spread half of the yogurt on top of the disc.
• Top with kiwi, strawberries and blueberries.
• Sprinkle granola and coconut over top.
• Serve with the remaining yogurt on the side.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes, visit our recipes sections!

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Looking to avoid food waste in your breakfast program? Want to ensure that your fruits and veggies stay fresher and tastier for longer? Here are eight great ideas on how to make the most of your produce!

1. Remove any elastic bands from your vegetables after buying them. They can damage and break vegetables, especially leafy ones.
2. Remove leaves from your root vegetables (radishes, carrots, parsnips, beets, etc.). Leaves tend to absorb all the water and decrease the shelf life of root vegetables.
3. Punch holes in the plastic wrap of vegetables that come in trays to let them breathe. You may have noticed that the plastic wrap on mushrooms, for example, is already perforated. This helps prevent them from becoming slimy.
4. Put your bananas in the fridge before they are too ripe. Their peels may turn black, but the fruit inside will stop ripening. You can make delicious banana slices now or store them in the freezer for subsequent use.
5. Freeze your leftover fruit and use it later. Any fruit can be frozen. Tip: Spread the fruit or fruit pieces out on a large baking sheet and put in the freezer for an hour. Then transfer to an airtight container to store. This way, the individual pieces will freeze separately, so if you need a certain quantity, you won’t have to defrost the whole batch. Frozen fruit can be added to yogurt, porridge, muffins, smoothies — anything!
6. Add lime or lemon juice to your fruit salad to keep it fresh. This will stop the fruit from browning and keep your salad appetizing.
7. Put a paper towel at the bottom of berry containers to absorb moisture. This will increase the shelf life of your berries and prevent the formation of mould.
8. Freeze any “ugly” fruit and make compote out of it when you have enough. This works with apples, pears, peaches, berries or an assorted mix! Check out our cookbook for a simple berry compote recipe that can easily be adapted to any fruit you have on hand.

In early April, schools across Canada joined our Virtual Gathering Place, an online platform where they could share their successes and challenges in incorporating Indigenous foods and practices into breakfast and other meal programming. Participants also touched on ways to honour the values and communities of the tradutional territories within which their programs operate. Three main topics were covered: challenges and solution; cultural practices and interconnectedness of food, and recipe sharing.

Successes

There were many challenges shared, ranging from time and space within the school community to prepare meals, to food safety regulations and student preferences. However, along with these came many innovative solutions:

• Reducing preparation time:Schools had great ideas to share to help cut down on prep time in the mornings, like baking bannock in a large sheet pan and slicing it into pieces with a pizza cutter. Many foods can also be prepared ahead of time in large batches and stored in the freezer, then warmed up in the morning. Bannock, for example, can be prepared the day before. Slightly toasting or heating it up the next day can restore the soft, delicious texture we know and love.
• Sourcing Indigenous foods:Many schools have found great success in sourcing Indigenous foods through community connections. For example, family or community members who are hunters can provide access to a good supply of meat. Connecting with Elders to gather, harvest or hunt together is also a source of inspiration. Inviting community members or Elders into the school to help make bannock and teach students how to prepare it is another way to introduce traditional foods into your program. Some schools also put out a call to the local community for donations of any meats, foods or produce. Finally, community gardens are a great way to bring foods into your program while maintaining and leveraging local connections.
• Food safety regulations:It is important to consider and follow the food service regulations relevant to your school. Within these regulations, some schools have created a permission form for wild meat when students register, and others have found success purchasing through a local butcher, as the meat is packaged and date-stamped to meet certain requirements.
• Introducing students to new foods:Breakfast coordinators have had success introducing unfamiliar foods by including students in the harvesting or preparation process through community gardens or cooking classes. Inviting Elders or Knowledge Keepers to talk to students about what they ate growing up can also help bridge the gap.

Cultural Practices, Language and Interconnectedness of Foods and Culture

Using language, valuing togetherness and honouring the ceremony around eating can be great solutions for representing Indigenous ways of knowing and being in your breakfast program. Schools shared with us how they bring singing, language, art and communities together with school events, announcements and classes.

Many schools are limited in time or resources to incorporate Indigenous foods into their daily breakfast program. Hosting a community-wide meal is one idea for incorporating traditional foods and practices. Involving members of the community to help cook foods like bannock or salmon soup is a great way to get the positive energy going. Other school events, like Métis Week or Indigenous Celebration Day, can also be used to get students to try traditional foods and talk about their heritage and families. Some schools hold outdoor cookouts, where students can make bannock on a stick over an open fire, and teachers and community members can share their specialties, like fishing, and harvesting and preparing wild meat. Other ways that some schools have incorporated language and cultural practices into their breakfast programs include announcing the daily breakfast menu in Cree and gathering every morning with singing, drumming and round dancing during breakfast. Another school including learning Cree for students during beading classes.

Kicking off Your Breakfast Program and Recipe Sharing 

Some easy recipe ideas to get you started: why not work wild berries into different breakfast dishes? Saskatoon berries, blueberries and other berries can be used in smoothies or parfaits, or served with bannock, pancakes or oatmeal. Fresh summer berries can be preserved by making compote or jam to enjoy all year round.

Bannock can also be served in many ways, including breakfast pizza, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast tacos, French toast or with chili and stew. Try using a blend of whole wheat and white flour, or adding oats or ground oat flour to your bannock, to increase its nutritional value.

Some other ideas:

• Reach out to Nations in your area for recipes
• Ask students and their families to share recipes
• Google or search the local library for a cookbook with local traditional recipes
• Start a “Bannock of the Month” activity and have students bring in their own family recipes
• Hold an outdoor cookout and invite local community members
• View the list of resources from trusted stakeholders that we have compiled here.

The Virtual Gathering Place was a part of our dedication to supporting each program’s unique reality, in this case, the focus on an Indigenous worldview. It was also a way to participate in reconciliation. We hope to continue developing our support for traditional and Indigenous foods and to provide more resources for our schools. We are grateful to have learned from the over 160 schools in attendance.

It’s hard to believe that summer is quickly approaching and breakfast programs will soon be winding down! In preparation for this hiatus, consider the following tips to use up any ingredients you have left or to store food properly over the summer months.

5 Tips to Use What You Have Left Before Summer

• Plan — Find recipes that use the ingredients you have on hand. For example, you can make pancakes with leftover applesauce and oats. If you have extra eggs, why not whip up some breakfast sandwiches!
• Adapt — Swap the fruits or veggies called for in a recipe with what you have. You can do this with other ingredients as well, such as different types of flour or oil.
• Make smoothies, sauces and compotes — They are the perfect way to use leftover fruit! Freeze any fruit that hasn’t been eaten at the end of each breakfast. When you have enough set aside, throw it into a smoothie, sauce or compote.
• Hold a theme day or celebration breakfast — It will help you use up ingredients in new recipe and menu ideas!
• Cook big batches and freeze them — In order to buy less food as summer approaches, cook big batches and freeze them. You’ll see your inventory of fresh ingredients get smaller and smaller as you do.

Don’t forget to use your egg coupons before summer, too!

If you’re not able to use everything before school ends, think about ways to store food properly:

• Milk and yogurt can be frozen. This may affect their texture, but they are still safe to consume and can be used in smoothies and baking.
• Cheese can be frozen, either whole or grated. Ensure that it is well wrapped or sealed to maintain quality.
• Vegetables can be blanched and frozen. Place in boiling water for 1 to 3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and plunge into ice cold water. Open freeze as explained below.

Open freezing allows you to store fruits and veggies without them clumping together. This also allows you to use only the amounts you need without having to defrost a whole batch. Open freeze fruit and blanched veggies by spacing them out on a non-stick or parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer until solid, then transfer to freezer-safe bags or containers. Don’t forget to label them clearly, complete with the date!

Saint-Charles School is a small school in the scenic Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec. They set up a breakfast program for their 75 students a little more than a year ago. Special education teacher Myriam Servais is the one who got the initiative off the ground, with support from her fellow staff members. “Madame Myriam,” as she is affectionately known, is in tune with the needs of her students. From day one, she has put her all into making the program a success, so that every child can start their morning with a wholesome breakfast.

This year, some extra help was needed to keep everything running smoothly, so the breakfast program decided to reach out to the parent population. Marie-Soleil Aupin-Keighan, a mother of one of the students and a very creative person by nature, responded immediately. As someone bursting with ideas for recipes, decorations, crafts and more, she was the perfect fit for the role of site coordinator. So she decided to take the plunge!

Thanks to the efforts of all the volunteers and the staff members who help out, the breakfast program at Saint-Charles School is a hive of activity every morning. Students from Grades 5 and 6 are also on hand to pitch in with breakfast preps. “Without all these great people, I’d have much less time to plan, organize and cook!” said Marie-Soleil.

It turns out Marie-Soleil is also a wiz at cutting down on food waste: “I work hard to keep waste to a minimum. I’ll inevitably find a way to turn one thing into something else or invent new no-bake recipes to get students to eat food they may otherwise turn their nose up at. I make energy balls and apple sauce popsicles. When yogurt gets close to its best-before date, I freeze it and make yogurt pops. Unopened drinkable yogurt gets put into a blender with frozen fruit to make smoothies. And that’s just the beginning!” This week, she’s testing out a new egg spread. We’re sure that, like everything else she dreams up, it will be a huge hit!

She has generously agreed to share one of the kid-tested recipes she has come up with. Feel like giving it a whirl?

MARIE-SOLEIL’S NO-BAKE ENERGY BALLS

Yield: 32 balls

Ingredients:

• 2 c. (500 mL) soy butter* (WowButter)
• 1 c. (250 mL) granola
• ⅓ c. (80 mL) honey or maple syrup
• ¼ c. (60 mL) raisins

Preparation:

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a reusable silicon mat.
2. Combine the soy butter and honey with an electric mixer or a fork.
3. Add the granola, using your fingers to crumble some of the bigger pieces. Blend together with a mixing spoon.
4. Shape the mixture into balls, about 1 Tbsp. (15 mL) at a time. If it is too sticky to handle, try moistening your hands with a little water. Add extra soy butter and honey if needed for the balls to hold together.
5. Place them on the prepared cooking sheets, making sure they don’t touch. Chill for at least an hour.

N.B.: For special occasions, drizzle melted chocolate over top, as illustrated.

*You can substitute other nut or seed butters if that’s what you have on hand!

Maverick School joined Breakfast Club of Canada in December 2021. See what their principal, Jayne Nicholson, has to say about their daily breakfast program.

 What is the one thing people need to know about your breakfast program?

The most important thing you need to know about our breakfast program is that students are truly appreciative of the opportunity to enjoy breakfast when they arrive at school! They LOVE smoothies!

What are you most proud of in your breakfast program?

I’m most proud of how the program has been streamlined. Students order their breakfast through a Google Chat with our breakfast program coordinator, and food is delivered right to students’ work area. This began because of COVID, but I think we will keep it in place as it is time-efficient and there is no food waste! I’m also proud and grateful that the additional funds have allowed us to ensure food security over school breaks in the form of food hampers containing non-perishable breakfast items.

Is there a student/school staff/community member who has gone above and beyond in your breakfast program?

I’d like to give a shout-out to Alisa Meyer, our coordinator. Lis is kind, caring and efficient! She knows that students value her work, and she is always eager to try new breakfast items to expand our menu and provide variety. On Fridays, she creates a breakfast casserole, pancakes or French toast as a special treat. She is mindful of the budget and keeps our kitchen shiny clean. Our breakfast program is in capable and caring hands. Thank you, Lis!

Special breakfasts: What do students look forward to?

SMOOTHIES! Wow, do they love smoothies! Our smoothies contain a variety of fruits, greens and Greek yogurt to make sure that hit of protein is part of their morning meal. They also love breakfast wraps.

Have students asked for specific foods? What are they? Any interesting, unique requests?

We have not had requests for specific foods. Everyday breakfast items include fruit and yogurt, whole wheat toast, oatmeal, low-sugar cereals and, of course, smoothies!

The desire to give back can start at any age, as 7-year-old Béatrice can tell you. Hers is a story of humble beginnings that lead to big achievements!

How it All Started 

In 2021, Béatrice and her friends Annabella and Zoé decided to sell lemonade to raise money for Breakfast Club of Canada and give other kids an equal chance to succeed. The idea then grew and grew, with six school friends, siblings and children from the neighbourhood joining in on the fun. With the help of their parents, the small group of young entrepreneurs pulled the whole thing off admirably, bringing in the tidy sum of 5.

The beautiful lemonade stand created specially for the occasion!

A New Year, a New Goal! 

This summer, the group decided to repeat the experience, only with a loftier goal in mind. 

Even more of their friends, brothers and sisters decided to pitch in as well, as did their parents, who built a lemonade stand, spread the word on social media and put up signs in the neighbourhood.

A Perfect Day 

The sale ended up happening on a warm, sunny afternoon in mid-July, in a specially made wooden lemonade stand. Béatrice and her teammates, Mathias, Florence, Abygaëlle, Massoma, Zoé, Annabella, Lee-Anne, Anaëlle and Édouard, went all out, making and hanging decorations, putting up BCC-themed balloons and greeting thirsty customers.  

Lots of people stopped by, intrigued by what was going on and happy to make a donation in exchange for a refreshing glass of lemonade. The great weather meant that the stand could stay open until 7 p.m.

Béatrice, 7 years old, ready to sale lemonade!

Proud parents 

This year’s efforts definitely paid off, raising ,282 to help Breakfast Club of Canada feed children throughout the year. 

The parents who helped out were very proud and touched to see their children lend a hand to such a worthy cause. Maxime and Mélissa, Béatrice and Mathias’s parents, told BCC that they were already talking about doing it again next year — bigger and better than ever! 

From left to right: Annabella, Anaëlle, Lee-Anne, Béatrice, Florence, Isaac, Abygaëlle, Édouard, Massoma, Zoé and Mathias.

Everyone here at Breakfast Club of Canada would like to thank and congratulate Annabella, Anaëlle, Lee-Anne, Béatrice, Florence, Isaac, Abygaëlle, Édouard, Massoma, Zoé, and Mathias, as well as all those who supported them, for doing such a wonderful job again this year. It is inspiring to see children take the lead on initiatives like this that let them make a real difference in the lives of other children their age.  

See you again next year, we hope!