Breakfast Club of Canada Co-founder Judith Barry says 1 in 3 children to show up to school hungry every day in Canada, depleting them of energy, focus, behavioral skills, and overall health.

Barry explains that not only do school food programs benefit the students that use them, but also the communities in which those schools reside.

“When we use school food programs as a platform to generate intentional socioeconomic benefit, we can really make a huge difference for local producers, to create local jobs.”

She adds that The Club currently supports more than 5000 school breakfast programs across the country, but a lack of funding has left over 1000 more schools on the waiting list.

“These schools have submitted a request to our organization, and unfortunately, we can’t reach them and onboard them due to a lack of support.”

The problem presents itself locally, as well.

“The Breakfast Club of Canada is currently supporting 55 programs in Saskatchewan, and there is more than double those programs in schools that would need Breakfast Club of Canada’s support and service.”

Barry says in Saskatchewan, 35 per cent of children come from a food insecure household, up from a national average of 27 per cent.

She says Breakfast Club of Canada continues to engage government and stakeholders to fill the funding gap and ensure every child has access to nutritious food.