School breakfast program hurt by closing of supplier
The Lamont High School Breakfast Program, which started almost two years ago to accommodate students, was dealt a huge blow when it’s chief supplier, Cobbs Bread in Fort Saskatchewan, closed its doors on Jan. 15.
Lamont High School principal, Amit Mali, said the idea for the breakfast program began as an inspiration from Finland. In 2018, Lamont High School was one of five Alberta schools chosen to participate in the Finland Alberta research project sponsored by the Alberta Teachers Association.
“The idea behind the Finland Alberta research project is for five schools from Finland and five schools from Alberta to partner up and learn from each other. One of the things Finland does is to feed their kids lunch every day. We couldn’t replicate that, but we could help them with breakfast,” said Mali.
“The assumption is that when kids hit a certain age, they can just take care of themselves. But the reality is they would rather sleep the extra ten minutes in the morning than make sure they have a much-needed breakfast before school.”
Mali and the previous vice principal, Curtis Starko, reached out to Cobbs in Fort Saskatchewan who graciously agreed to donate their left-over bread and baked goods each week to the program.
“We bought a freezer and picked up the bread every Monday night from Cobbs for the week,” he said. “We also received a grant for $1,000 from President’s Choice. It helped us buy two restaurant grade toasters.”
Mali added that the program became very popular and soon they were feeding 120 – 130 kids a day. He also noticed an unexpected benefit to the program.
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“Not only were we feeding hungry students, but we were also creating a community. Kids were coming through at 10 am but staff were there too. They weren’t there to hassle the kids about unfinished homework or why they weren’t in class, but to have meaningful conversations and see how they are doing,” he said.
Office staff run the program during the 40-minute morning flex time after the first period.
“It’s also time for us (office staff) to bond as well. We laugh, joke and listen to music in the kitchen while getting breakfast ready for our staff and students,” said Mali. “It’s just a win all around.”
Mali added that there was huge concern for the future of the program once Cobbs closed their doors.
“Because the bread was being donated, it allowed us to take care of the butter and jam. There was a point when we first found out (Cobb’s closure) that we were concerned we wouldn’t be able to continue (the program),” he said. “We use about eight to 10 loaves of bread a day and figured out we would need about $8,000 – $9,000 a year to maintain the breakfast program.”
Read THE REST OF THE STORY below in the full February 12 edition of The Lamont Leader!
Jana Semeniuk
