From its humble beginnings eight years ago when Christie Kennedy and Tim Lofstrom sat in a small room at Ecole Baker elementary and worked out how they were going to feed 50 students breakfast, the Quesnel Breakfast program has grown and flourished.
Now including six elementary schools, the junior secondary school and high school along with McNaughton Centre, the breakfast program is feeding more than 400 students a day across the school district.
The turning point for Quesnel Partners for Student Nutrition (QPSN) came when they partnered with Breakfast Clubs of Canada. Quesnel was the pilot program for delivery of the breakfast model in Western Canada.
“BCC provides so much more than just breakfast,” QPSN president Christy Kennedy said.
“Thanks to founder Daniel Germaine’s vision, the breakfast club empowers students and helps build self-esteem. BCC even provides leadership training and upwards of a dozen students from Quesnel have attended the leadership camps in Ontario.”
Kennedy went on to say Quesnel has once again been selected for a BCC pilot program. All nine of Quesnel’s breakfast program coordinators have completed the requirements to receive certification based on a new program which will ensure a seamless delivery of the breakfast program.
With a new procedures manual, if a coordinator is unable to deliver the program, someone else can step in easily by following the procedures outlined in the manual. No child will go without their breakfast because of a lack of delivery.
Germaine returns to Quesnel June 9 for celebratory graduation ceremonies and to personally hand out the certifications to Quesnel’s BCC coordinators.
For the past eight years, Kennedy has marvelled at the growth and success of feeding Quesnel children a nutritious breakfast.
“We now deliver the program from kindergarten to Grade 12. Students are being fed throughout their school years,” she said.
“If children chose to come to school because someone cares enough to feed them breakfast and they chose to stay in school because of that, then we’ve done our job.”