February 7, 2025
Student Nutrition Program “more important than ever”

If there was ever a time the Haldimand Norfolk Reach Student Nutrition Network (SNN) was needed, it’s now.

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If there was ever a time the Haldimand Norfolk Reach Student Nutrition Network was needed, it’s now.

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Canadians paid more than two million visits to food banks — the highest number in history – in March of 2024 alone, says Food Banks Canada. Food bank usage also increased 90 per cent last year compared to March 2019, and one-third of current clients are children.  

“The student nutrition program is more important than ever,” said Sharon Smyth, community facilitator of the area’s Child Nutrition Network.  

“We’ve seen a large increase in students coming to school, not necessarily without a lunch but they won’t have enough food in their lunchboxes to get them through for the entire day.”  

Established in January 1998, the Child Nutrition Network of Haldimand and Norfolk provides healthy options to more than 9,300 students in educational facilities from two to five days per week during the school year.  

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School staff, including principals, partner with local volunteers to sort and distribute the food, a chunk of which is donated by area farms and paid for via local businesses and charities.  

“We wouldn’t be where we are without the principals, the teachers and the EAs (educational assistants) in the schools,” Smyth said. “It’s a win-win because of their support.”  

For some schools, the program isn’t enough. Smyth used Delhi Public School as an example – where the program feeds 270 of the building’s 400 students daily, but the need exists for over 300. The budget for DPS alone costs more than $40,000 per year, and school staff will likely need to fundraise $7,000 in community donations this year to cover all expenses.  

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“I’m so glad we offer this program because there are so many students that come here and don’t have enough to get them through the day,” said Delhi Public School educational assistant Sarah Visser. “We also don’t know what they had to eat the night before, so at least here we can do what we can to make a positive impact on them, especially with something that’s a necessity.”  

Visser and other volunteers at DPS have a group of 10 students from the school’s Life Skills program that help with the preparation, sorting and delivery of the 16 bins of food each day. The bins contain 20 items, including at least one vegetable, fruit, grain, and dairy option.  

“I think it gives them a sense of pride – some of them are working on independence and this is something that as they grow they can use in life,” Visser said of the student helpers.  

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“It also teaches them about healthy eating. In some instances, these kids have never even tried fruits or vegetables, so it gives them an opportunity to learn and help them as they grow.”  

In 2023-24, 51 programs took place across 45 Haldimand and Norfolk schools. Volunteers served a  1,183,114 meals and snacks over 25,864 hours ($440,000 of in-kind value). The cost totalled $798,426 in food expenditures (not including equipment, the value of donated food items, or food purchased by partnerships). From Sept. 1 – Dec. 31, 2024, the program served 15,928 students a total of 468,945 meals and snacks.  

All of the schools “have budgets, but just like your day-to-day operation at home, you can only do so much with what you have available,” said Smyth.  

“They’re stretching the dollars as far as they can go right now.”  

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