Boys and Girls Club struggling to keep dinner on the table for kids

When Boys and Girls clubs shut their doors from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., the intent is to give kids a chance – and a reminder – to go home and have dinner with their families.

But at the Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton on Ellis Avenue, a block from the Centre on Barton, staff noticed kids weren't going home in between the after-school and evening programs.

This is never something I want to cancel because we don't have funding for it.- Shawna Richard, supervisor, Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton 

Even when the weather got colder, many of the same kids were still hanging out outside, waiting for the doors to reopen.

Sometimes, out of boredom, hunger or both, they'd get into trouble.

"It soon became apparent that there was no dinner waiting for them at home," said Shawna Richard, a program manager at Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton.

Some parents aren't home yet from work. Others work more than one job. Some families in the neighbourhood simply don't have enough food, she said.

"In all weather conditions – we were noticing that they would literally wait outside our doors until we'd open up."

'This is never something I want to cancel'

So the club started a dinner program a year ago, open to any of their members or families who needs a meal. They started with about 25 or 30 people sitting down together for a meal. Now some nights run higher than 75 people.

And now, the grants that helped fund it for 2017 have run out, and the club is desperately trying to find a way to keep the program going. They had about $14,000 to fund it last year, and hope to find a source for at least the same amount this year.

Richard said she's hoping a funder will come forward to keep the program alive.

"I'm not going down without a fight," Richard said. "This is never something I want to cancel because we don't have funding for it."

After dinner, everyone moves to a physical activity program before the drop-in and other scheduled programs resume.

Chicken soup, sandwiches, cantaloupe and milk

One night this week, dinner was chicken soup and sandwiches. Dinner-goers also got some cantaloupe and a glass of milk. Kids devoured the simple meal, soon asking for seconds on soup and sandwiches until the food had run out.

Dylan Forward, 9, said he likes having dinner at the club because "it's tasty." 

Melody Davis, who attends swimming and dance programs and plays in the drop-in games room at the club, says she likes to eat with other kids, "because it's really good".

Some kids come just one night a week. Others, even more infrequently. The club doesn't take attendance.

"Whoever needs the food can come," Richard said.

Richard said her colleagues have noticed kids quietly putting food in their backpacks, signaling they don't have enough to eat at home.

Consuela Flatts is the resident cook for the club. It's her job to figure out a healthy, economical meal to serve.

"If their tummies are full, they'll behave – sometimes," she said. "We really try to make it feel like a family meal."

kelly.bennett@cbc.ca