Demand for student nutrition program sees increase locally

Administrators at Stella Maris Catholic School in Amherstburg, Ont. are feeling the demand.

“We can't keep enough food in the fridge,” said Principal Tania Sorge.

When she became principal a year and a half ago, students would ask for snacks.

“As administrators, we always have a couple of extra snacks hanging out in our office and helping out those in need,” explained Sorge, who said it quickly became apparent to her there was a need. “We reached out to OSNP and here we are today with a full OSNP student nutrition program and our students absolutely love it.”

OSNP is the Ontario Student Nutrition Program that provides snack baskets for each classroom.

Inside Friday's baskets, delivered by Essex MPP Anthony Leardi, there was fruit, vegetables, Melba toast, peanut butter, cheese, and milk.

The OSNP feeds kids at Stella Maris and 30 other schools in the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board system. In all, about 29,000 students across the four school boards in Windsor-Essex benefit from this program.

A combination of food insecurity and growing children play a factor in the need for snacks.

“We've all seen it at the grocery stores,” said Danielle Findlay, OSNP supervisor of community relations. “Imagine feeling that every day times hundreds of students. It's very challenging for them to keep up.”

Sorge added, “Learning and thinking takes a lot of energy too, so they definitely have to fuel their minds for that reason.”

Some schools in the region offer full breakfast programs and rely heavily on volunteers. “We did see a drop off of the number of volunteers because of COVID, and we're still feeling that impact unfortunately,” said Findlay, who commends staff for stepping up to fill the void. “Serving food to sometimes upwards of 500 students a day is no easy task and they do a phenomenal job ensuring the students have the fuel that they need to learn and succeed.”