As part of a new five-year, billion-dollar student nutrition program, Better Beginnings Better Futures (BBBF) in Greater Sudbury is receiving more than $400,000 to help sustain the work that it does and hopefully expand to more schools.
The spike in food prices post-pandemic made administering the program “very challenging,” said Angele Young, the regional manager for the student nutrition program at BBBF.
Young was on hand Feb. 3 at St. David Catholic Elementary School for an announcement by Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe on the National School Food Program, which was announced in 2024. The program will invest $1 billion over five years in student nutrition programs, according to information provided at the press conference.
Young said there was actually a day when student nutrition programs in Sudbury involved teachers going to the grocery store on their own dime, and keeping food in their drawers to give to hungry children.
“The need was greater than those couple of hungry children,” but they did the best they could at the time, she said.
Over the years, things have evolved, and currently, student nutrition programs are funded through the province, as well as through fundraising and corporate partners, and administered locally by Better Beginnings.
Today, 90 per cent of schools in Sudbury participate in student nutrition programs, serving 20,000 meals per day.
With the new federal money, Young said she hopes to be able to extend these programs to all of Sudbury’s schools.
Better Beginnings, Better Futures will receive $424,000 this year, which will increase available resources by 56 per cent. The new expanded funding is welcomed by the organization that hasn’t seen its funding change since 2017.
Under an agreement with the federal government, Ontario will receive $108.5 million in federal funding over the next three years to expand and enhance student nutrition programs across the province, including an initial $18.5 million in year one.
The province will use the first year of funding to bolster existing school food offerings in schools that currently have programs delivered through their Student Nutrition Program (SNP) and their First Nations Student Nutrition Program (FNSNP).
In year one, federal funding will allow Ontario to increase the average number of students served daily by 160,000, a 20-per-cent increase over their 2022-23 baseline.
“This fund means that schools who have been working hard, who have been doing everything they can to stretch their dollar to feed their students through the entire school year, it means that they can now rest assured that they will make it to the end of the school year,” Young said.
“This fund helps those programs become more sustainable. We're going to increase the amount of food that we have available in schools, and we will be able to offer different types of foods … We’re very, very grateful. Canada can no longer be known as the only country without a national school food program. So thank you for that.”
St. David Catholic School principal Dawn Wemigwans said her school’s food budget will double, “which allows us to provide a healthier, stronger breakfast for all the students.
“It tremendously impacts their day. I cannot stress that enough — full stomachs make the difference for every student in this building. The beauty of the program is that it's not just for specific students, it's for everyone, so it creates inclusivity, it creates a better atmosphere. It's more of a home than a school, and that's a big difference.”
In her remarks, Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe said Canada was previously the only country in the G7 not to have a national school food program.
“So it was a long time in coming, and I'm very proud that we were able to do that and launch the program,” she said.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.