School divisions are continuing a nutrition program to help feed students who are learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are providing funding for our schools so that they can continue to support to the most at-risk families,” said Terri Dauter, Christ the Redeemer (CTR) Catholic Schools stewardship liaison. “For most of our schools that is looking like providing bags of groceries, whether that is bread, peanut butter, ham… we make sure that our families have enough to get through every week."
Prior to schools closing to students on March 16, CTR-Catholic and the Foothills School Division ran breakfast and/or lunch programs at their schools.
Dauter was an advocate for the nutrition grant funding when it was in peril in the spring of 2019 during provincial budget deliberations. The UCP government continued the funding across the province. CTR-Catholic receives approximately $166,000 a year, while Foothills School Division receives $141,000.
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Foothills School Division staff reached out to the community to determine how best to distribute funds or food now that students are learning at home.
“We have been partnering with Food For Thought for several years to serve High River and the High Country area and we are continuing to work with them to provide that support to families,” said Chris Fuzessy, Foothills superintendent of schools. “We also made a decision to purchase some grocery store gift cards that school leaders can, at their discretion, offer that support to families throughout the division, including Okotoks."
He said the division will continue to communicate with principals to ensure gift cards are available for families in the future.
At CTR Catholic, the majority of the schools run the nutrition program through the division's Connections program.
For families with students attending Holy Trinity Academy and St. Luke’s Outreach School, it could mean a visit from a staff member with food in hand. Each school has one staff member who runs the Connections program at their respective facility.
It allows for staff to literally connect with students.
“At Holy Trinity Academy Peter (Peter James) is a Connections worker and he uses the deliveries to stay in touch with our most visible kids and their families,” Dauter said. “So he can check in with them, make sure they are doing okay.”
As a result, the families can be helped with transitioning to other programs like the Salvation Army, Society of St. Vincent de Paul and IntelliHelp Canada if needed, Dauter explained.
At St. Mary’s School, some families pick up the hamper while others have them delivered.
CTR-Catholic, the third-largest separate school system in Alberta, has a large geographical area that includes High River and Brooks. Both communities were identified as hot spots for COVID-19.
“In High River, we are doing things really innovatively,” Dauter said. “We have looked at all the resources in the community and are leveraging them all.
“All of the schools are making hampers for families, but we are also working with St. Vincent de Paul Society and IntelliHelp Canada so that our families can be connected to resources after the school year.”
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has a chapter in Okotoks.
At Brooks, a paid staff member is running the Connections program.
“Right now she and her husband are shopping, making grocery hampers and delivering them,” Dauter said.
(Physical distancing is respected in all of the Connections efforts.)
Dauter credits the provincial government for allowing the program to continue.
Assisting with the nutrition program at CTR Catholic Schools are HTA, Peter James, Connection worker; St. Lukes Outreach School, Dylan Sinclair, vice-principal; Ecole St. John Paul II Collegiate, Nathan Thrift, Connections worker; St. Mary's School, Kerry Richichi, education assistant.
Ecole Good Shepherd School and St Francis of Assisi Academy have not yet indicated they wish to access additional funding. Neither of those two schools had a government Funded nutrition program.
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