A long time Breakfast Program has officially re-launched.
The Student Nutrition Program has been around for a long time in the North Bay area. Kathy Broydell-Chippa is the Community Development Coordinator for the Student Nutrition Program. She believes it was important to get it going remotely after the provincial government cancelled the 2020 school year.
"With COVID-19 and the schools being closed our student nutrition team sort of brain-stormed and we thought how can we reach the families and feed the children that normally access breakfast programs within the schools," she said.
Broydell-Chippa says they came up with an idea of implementing three breakfast hubs across the city of North Bay.
The hubs are at The Gathering Place on Monday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., at Community Living on Wednesday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and on Thursday at the Gateway Church from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
"So families can come by and pick up a breakfast bag depending on how many kids are in the family and that depends on the quantity we receive. We ensure there are full grains in it, fruit and vegetables along with dairy products," said Broydell-Chippa.
After being involved with the program for years, Broydell-Chippa is aware of how many students were coming to school hungry.
"So we sort of built this program to ensure we are still reaching families within the community to ensure those kids are still being fed hopefully on a daily basis," she said.
She notes that those in the area that includes Parry Sound and Muskoka can still take advantage of the program by signing up online.
"Our area covers Nipissing, Parry Sound and Muskoka so families in North Bay can physically come and pick up a breakfast bag where our outlying areas, so our Mattawa, West Nipissing, Corbeil, Callander even and down into Parry Sound and our schools in Muskoka they register with us and we send them gift cards," she explains.
She says the program will continue to the end of the school year at the end of June with the possibility of them setting up a summer program.
For more information on the program click HERE
