Nutrition program at Sacred Heart school is on chopping block.
Parent council chairperson Debbie Lachmansingh, centre, joins Sacred Heart Catholic School students Thursday during the morning snack program. (Dec. 15, 2011)
Staff photo/MIKE ADLER
For some students at Malvern's Sacred Heart Catholic School, "when the lunch bell rings, there's no lunch," says Debbie Lachmansingh.
Many arrive having had no breakfast, the parent council chairperson said Thursday, Dec. 15, as she watched volunteers of the school's Student Nutrition Program put together a morning meal of fruit salad and grilled cheese sandwiches.
And yet, $7,000 for the program and a like amount for another nearby school, St. Columba Catholic School, is slated to be cut from the City of Toronto budget.
"It's not a luxury," said Lachmansingh, adding she finds the decision to stop the funds incomprehensible. "We talk about helping children make nutritious choices and here you're seeing it."
The schools are fighting back, sending petitions along with scores of letters students wrote this week to Mayor Rob Ford.
"I hope your business is going well," begins one missive from Sacred Heart student Tremaine Reyes-Abelardo, before he makes a pitch for expanding the program to every city school.
"The cost is very cheap and I hope everyone can afford to buy it."
For the past two years at Sacred Heart, all 200 students have received their "snack" three days a week. Teachers have said they have seemed more "settled" as a result, said principal Susan Hall-Jennings.
Reaction to Thursday's meal prepared by budget-conscious co-ordinator Evette Hunte and her volunteers was generally very favourable.
Most students responded to Hall-Jenning's inquiries by raising two thumbs up.
"It's yummy," said Francis Wong, 10, one of the 158 Sacred Heart pupils who wrote to the mayor.
"People learn better."
The program gets an additional $7,500 a year from the province and parents do contribute, but so far not enough to pay for the meals without city help.
Lachmansingh said the council asks families for $10 a month.
"We actually get just over $4 a month. The reason we're getting less is because of the reality of the community," which includes many recent immigrants and single-parent families, she said.
Parents also chip in at St. Columba, where most of the 250 children participate four days a week.
The program there started last November and losing the city's $7,000 will put it in danger, principal Paola Cherrier said.
Observing on Thursday, local city councillor Raymond Cho declared the benefits of such programs are not just physical.
"To many children it's an emotional nutrition program," he said. "When they're happy, their functional level will go up."
Cho said he was optimistic his council colleagues would end up saving the grants, but added if the money is cut he will try to raise as much as possible himself to continue both programs.