School food programs face growing demand, ballooning budgets

The rising cost of living has more students relying on food and other support programs at Ottawa schools than ever before and the organizations behind them say it's difficult to keep up with demand.

The breakfast program has become a staple in many student routines at Featherston Drive Public School south of the core, with 80 of the school's 300 students — more than one-quarter of the school population — signed up.

That is more than double the number of children signed up to get breakfast at school prior to the pandemic, according to Featherston vice-principal Maha Albari.

"[An] empty stomach does not really allow you to be productive," said Albari.

• Soaring food prices could have major impact on Canadians' health

It's a similar picture across Ottawa according to Heather Norris, president and CEO for the Ottawa Network for Education.

The organization runs the breakfast program for the four publicly funded school boards in the city — currently serving breakfast to 14,500 students every day, nearly 11 per cent of the student population.

On average, the organization would add two schools each semester. So far this year, five more schools have signed on for the breakfast program and there are another 10 schools on the wait-list.

"Things have definitely changed," said Norris. 

"Rising food costs and inflation are stretching family budgets. It's stretching our program budget. We have the highest nutrition budget that we've had in the 30-plus-year history of the program."

Pre-pandemic, that budget was roughly $1.2 million a year. It's now ballooned to $1.8 million this year. The group receives funding from both municipal and provincial governments and raises enough to cover about half of that budget.

Still, Norris said it could use even more support to keep up with demand. 

"For us it's usually 'How are we going to keep this going? How and where can we look for opportunities to make sure that we're stretching our dollar as far as we can? And how we can continue supporting the schools?'" said Norris.

Families being asked to wait

Rising costs have posed an even more serious challenge for the Education Foundation of Ottawa (EFO), a non-profit organization that provides gift cards to students and families in need of food and clothing.

Since the beginning of the school year, EFO has received about 350 requests, roughly 25 requests per week, up from the usual 10 prior to the pandemic. Most of those requests, said executive director Clarissa Arthur, are for food.

The group, which serves the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, relies exclusively on donations that are not currently keeping up with student demand, said Arthur.

"The impact has meant that right now we're having to … slow things down as far as how quickly we're able to give funds out to families," she said.

"As someone who was a young single mom of two small children, I know how important it is to have the things that you need, and not to have that limit on it, especially in times of emergencies."

National school food policy in the works

With growing concern over food insecurity among students, and as programs across the country see similar spikes in demand, advocates have called on the federal government to commit to a national school meal program.

Federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould recently launched public consultations for a nation-wide school food policy to "help guide the expansion of school food programs in Canada." 

The Ottawa education network is actively participating in the consultations, said Norris, as Canada is the only G7 nation that does not have a national school food program.

"We know that the needs are great, but we also know that in creating a national food policy, there needs to be a certain flexibility across regions or across communities, and be able to adapt programs to meet the needs of diverse communities," she said.

Consultations are open until Friday.