Toronto Star
February 3, 2006

Port Sydney, Ont.

I knew I was onto something good when I was swarmed by a bunch of kids in the schoolyard last June.

Some of the students at my son's elementary school were already out for recess when they spied me heading for one of the portables with a tray full of fruit and cheese. After one child politely asked me if he could snag a piece of cheddar, a couple more approached. My laughter signalled to the surrounding kids that the food was up for grabs, and in moments every scrap was gone. These kids were excited about nutritious food!

Last year, as chair of our school council, I spearheaded the launch of our nourishment program. For the past three years I'd listened as parents on council talked about providing nutritious food to the 290 students at V.K. Greer Memorial Public School in Port Sydney, a small Muskoka village located halfway between Bracebridge and Huntsville.

With a push at the school board level and the full support of principal Peter Edwards, we applied for funding from the Trillium Lakelands District School Board. They ponied up the lion's share, $1,200 of the $1,900 we spent over the five months the program ran last year. This year it will cost about $6,000 to provide snacks and emergency lunches to our kids. Funding has come from the school board and the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, with corporate sponsors filling the gap. Our local grocery stores give us a 5 per cent discount, for example.

According to a recent report from Toronto medical officer of health Dr. David McKeown, it costs about $1.21 for breakfast, $1.09 for snack and $1.83 for lunch for elementary school students. For those in Grade 9 and over, the cost increases to $1.81 for breakfast, $2.95 for lunch and $1.49 for snack.

I do the grocery shopping for our program and find I have to shop for sales. Recently, 600-gram blocks of medium cheddar, which usually sell for more than $7, were available for $4.11 so I bought enough to last for several months.

The manpower, of course, is all volunteer. It wouldn't work without the parents. There are about 10 of us, and we spend around 12 hours a week buying food, cutting it up and serving it to all classes at V.K. Greer, from junior kindergarten through Grade 8.

Every Monday and Friday morning I navigate my way through the chaos of small people and their snow gear. I always get lots of smiles and more than a few hugs from the younger students as I arrive at the compact school kitchen to unload my boxes of fresh fruit, veggies and cheese. Today I'm serving cucumber, carrots, celery, grapes, oranges and cheese. I'm also providing an edible lesson in healthy eating and helping to create a culture of nutrition within our school, while at the same time delivering the message that parents care about their children.

It's rewarding work. Thirteen-year-old Kyle, for example, usually packs his own lunch. When asked whether his choices are based on nutrition or tastes, the Grade 8 student says, "I think about what's going to taste good."

He often packs peaches and apples, but "this morning I woke up late and I had to pack in a hurry so I grabbed some of the wings and fries from last night."

The grapes and cheese that he chose from the snack tray added dairy and fruit to his nutritional scorecard.

Thirteen-year-old Natalie has a parent-packed lunch that usually contains at least two fruit choices and a sandwich but the Grade 8 student still helps herself to some of the cheese offered at snack time. A teenage girl increasing her calcium intake is something to celebrate.

Ethan is a 13-year-old athlete who always brings a nutritious lunch but happily enjoys cheese, apples and bananas when they are offered. The Grade 7 student believes the program has "changed the way some of the kids look at food. I'll see them eating apples and bananas at home when they weren't into fruit before. Me, too. There are a couple of kids who are addicted to the cheese."

The key to a really successful program is universality. We know that all students who take part in nutrition programs are better learners. We know that most kids, regardless of their economic situation, don't meet their daily nutritional needs.

We also know that childhood obesity is on the rise and this signals major health consequences for the future. So, it doesn't matter why the kids are taking part, the exciting thing is that we're making a difference to their overall health.

At V.K. Greer, we focus on snacks where large trays, primarily filled with cheese and fruit, are delivered to the classes and almost every student has some. We also offer emergency lunches, but since they are in the kitchen and kids have to ask, they are rarely used. It's a prime example of the importance of universality.

Each school council has to determine the type of program that will best serve their needs. In Toronto more than 900 volunteers currently run 415 school and community-based programs serving breakfast, snacks or lunch. And hunger is a strong motivator. Statistics show that 66,500 children in Toronto relied on the Daily Bread Food Bank last year.

But there are also many reasons to supplement the foods that are packed at home.

In our school, teachers in the primary division feel that the lunches packed by parents are filled with good foods: fruit, veggies and dairy. Do the kids eat what parents pack? Many say no.

Then, in Grade 5 or 6, kids start packing their own lunches and nutrition suffers because they favour junk food. My own son, who is in Grade 3, has a perfectly good lunch that leaves him cold. He'll shun the apple I have packed but he'll enjoy the fun of sharing an orange with a friend.

And then there are the girls, for whom peer pressure to be thin begins as early as Grade 2. When subjected to taunts, a girl may decide to stop eating meals, only to make less healthy choices when hunger becomes overwhelming. And another person with an eating disorder is born.

Parents, educators and health professionals all agree that offering nutritious food in school is a positive step.

But how to begin? My first move was to meet with public health dietitian Mary Ellen Deane to determine the best foods to meet our goals. She stressed that we should offer whole, unprocessed fruit, vegetables and cheese and, to a lesser extent, whole grains.

These are the foods most children are lacking in their diet. Only 14 per cent of children between ages 9 and 12 eat four servings of vegetables and fruit a day, when dietitians would like to see five to 10 as the standard.

Deane is passionate about the importance of school nourishment programs and sees it as much more than feeding the hungry. She talks about achieving a "culture of nutrition" in schools.

"Here we have a golden opportunity to allow students to actively participate in the lessons they've learned about nutritional eating," she says. "We talk to them about healthy eating, then good food choices arrive and they practise the healthy eating messages they're learning. This will impact on the child's view of nutrition later on."

It seems to be working. In Grade 3, teacher Kirsten Conner says the children are talking about healthy food choices and are excited by it.

Drew, age 8, says he always eats some of the snack food because it's "healthy."

"Usually it's my fave because I like cheese and crackers and carrots and my friend Josh likes grapes."

Conner celebrates the program for a number of reasons. "First, with two working parents, the mornings are busy and sometimes kids don't eat breakfast. I also find they'll try fruit and cheese (they may not try at home) because their peers are eating it. My own son learned to eat salad at his school. And they're more conscious about healthy choices; they'll bring me something from their lunch and ask how healthy it is, so there's a lot of talk about nutrition now, in a good way."

Everyone seems to agree these programs are great for our kids and our schools. However, they are not likely to happen if parents, educators and community volunteers aren't ready and willing to devote their time and energy to creating and maintaining their own program.

Programs tend to be run by a core group of committed volunteers. At our school, mother of two Kate Solecki chooses to volunteer because she feels it's important to fuel learning minds and growing bodies.

"My own children always have healthy items in their lunch, but I can send an apple to school and it comes back," she says. "If there are apples arranged on a tray, they'll go for it."