By Charlene Tebbutt

Local agencies partner to feed hungry kids

Jul 25, 2018 | 5:00 PM

A partnership between a number of local agencies is helping ensure kids in Prince Albert have something extra to eat this summer.

The After the Bell program is an initiative through Food Banks Canada in partnership with a variety of corporate and local sponsors, and provides bags of nutritious items to kids in the community. Locally, the program is coordinated through the Prince Albert Food Bank, which works with other city agencies to promote and distribute the food items, including fruit, milk, juice and oatmeal.

The program started in 2016.

Wes Clark, executive director with the Prince Albert Food Bank said the program provides an average of 240 bags each week to kids around the community over the summer. He said summer is always a critical time for the food bank, which provides between 1,100 and 1,200 food hampers every month.

“This city has the highest proportion of kids out of any food bank in Saskatchewan,” Clark told paNOW. “It’s not these kids’ fault that they can’t be vacationing outside of our community (and) it’s not the kids’ fault for what’s going on in their household.”

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Dawn Robins is the executive director of the Bernice Sayese Centre in the city’s West Flat area. She said the centre will likely give out 1,000 bags through the After the Bell program before the summer is over. Supporting child nutrition programming is part of the centre’s mandate, she said. Staff at the centre help distribute healthy snacks in-house, through services such as their child immunization program, and outside to kids around the neighbourhood.

“It’s sad, but we are dealing with socio-economic concerns in parts of our city,” Robins said. “You don’t have to be hungry or poor, everybody gets the same … we want to keep our community healthy.”

Donations from the community are always welcome, Clark said. The food bank also provides healthy snacks for the Prince Albert playground program and runs the Co-op Community Oasis garden, working to grow vegetables to support those in need in the city. Clark encourages gardeners to donate any extra vegetables or crab apples they may have to share.

“The schools are all wrapped up for the most part, so they’re all gone and now families, suddenly their kids are home and they’re home all day, so we have a large need for all kinds of summer programming out there for these kids,” he said.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 9:59 a.m. on Thursday, July 26, 2018 to correct an error. A previous version of this story stated the food bank serves 1,100-1,200 people each month.

Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt