ST. PAUL - While students may not be attending classes at the moment, families in need in the area can still benefit from the provincial school nutrition grant.
Ensuring students aren't hungry has been an ongoing initiative within St. Paul Education for a number of years, and most recently has been supported by school nutrition funding from the Government of Alberta. While funds have been cut back in education in a number of areas since classes were cancelled last month, school nutrition continues to be funded by the province.
Before classes were cancelled in mid-March, "St. Paul Education was very proud of its Breakfast Program that provided students in all our schools with access to nutritious meals and snacks," reads a media release from St. Paul Education Regional Division, dated April 8. "Despite some changes in our funding from Alberta Education, we are pleased to report our nutrition grant targeted funding will continue."
SPERD has decided it will use its nutrition grant to provide local grocery store gift cards to vulnerable students and their families.
"During the closure, the government is asking schools to continue using their allocated funding to help feed students in any way possible," said SPERD board chair Heather Starosielski. "St. Paul Education decided that using grocery gift cards allowed the most flexibility for families to purchase what they deem necessary and essential food items. Also, involving our local grocery stores would further help our local economy."
The media release noted that SPERD staff had already started reaching out to potential families and plans to continue doing so on a bi-weekly basis.
"We very much recognize there may be others that have fallen to unpredictable circumstances and we invite you to contact your schools for more assistance," reads the media release.
Across Alberta, there was $15.5 million allocated to school nutrition programs for the 2019-20 school year, explained Starosielski. These funds are to be used by June 30, 2020.
For SPERD, the overall nutrition budget for this school year was $335,000. Schools had been using those funds throughout the year.
"We are working on a budget for the remainder of the program for the next three months. Starting off with a commitment of $33,000 in gift cards to be used throughout the division," said Starosielski. Each card is valued at $100 with the maximum being $200 per family.
The Government of Alberta cancelled classes across the province as of March 16 to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Students continue to learn from their homes.
