School Breakfast Program

In 2014, when staff within Réseau Compassion Network (RCN) heard that there were children arriving at local schools with not enough to eat, they sprang into action.

“It was brought to our attention that there was a group of students who lived in one of the poorest postal codes in Canada weren’t able to have nutritious meals to start their day,” shares Bob Lafrenière, Chief Financial Officer at RCN. “Nobody deserves to go hungry, especially not when they’re trying to learn and grow at school.”

RCN has many network organizations who have commercial kitchens, and when Aurèle Foidart, Executive Director of Charités Despins, was approached to see if his staff could contribute, he didn’t hesitate. “Bob asked if we could help and I said I was sure we could figure it out,” he shares. “We started with 70 kids, our staff making breakfasts for them five days a week.”

Initially, meals were delivered to students at École Precieux-Sang, an elementary school in St. Boniface. Then, the program was expanded over time to include École Taché and Collège Louis-Riel, two more institutions in St. Boniface. For three years, students from these schools received the nutrition they needed to be able to concentrate at school, learn and therefore have a better chance to reach their full potential and enjoy their school lives a bit more.

In the end, staff from Charités Despins made over 112,000 meals over a six-year period. The Soeur du Sauveur endowment fund provided support to cover most of the costs of the meals: $3 per lunch/breakfast, and $1 per meal from Charités Despins.

Meanwhile, Collège Louis-Riel worked towards completing their own commercial kitchen. “We continued this project until 2020,” explains Foidart. “We were an interim solution, and all those meals are now being made at the school. We were happy to help fill the gap.”

The Division scolaire franco-manitobaine, to which all three schools belong, is now funding and administering this program, an evolution Foidart is heartened to see. “It was a really good project to be a part of,” he concludes. “All of our staff was on board and felt great about contributing. This is part of being friendly neighbours, and the benefits will always outweigh the costs on that.”