Province Announces $32 Million for Student Nutrition Program Expansion
Posted: April 9, 2014
Categories: Edible Education Network / Food in the News / GoodFoodBites
MPP Teresa Piruzza, Minister of Children and Youth Services announces an expansion of the Student Nutrition Program. Credit:t Nick Brancaccio, The Windsor Star
The Ontario government is committing an initial investment of $32 million over three years to an expansion of the provincial Student Nutrition Program. MPP Teresa Piruzza, Minister of Child and Youth Services, announced this funding on Monday April 7th at a special event at École Secondaire Michel-Gratton in Windsor. The enhanced plan will establish 340 new breakfast programs in elementary and secondary schools, providing breakfast for 56,000 more children.
Sustain Ontario and the Ontario Edible Education Network are excited to see this additional increase in funding support from the government of Ontario. This new announcement is another notable step in the path to achieving a Universal Student Nutrition Program that provides healthy meals to all students in Ontario, and we are particularly enthusiastic about the government’s plans to expand the meal program to on-reserve First Nations schools.
Stephanie Segave, southwest regional manager for the Victorian Order of Nurses’ Student Nutrition Program, told The Windsor Star about how these meal programs influence the development of healthy food preferences: “Our focus is a universal healthy school program… You put fruits and vegetables in front of kids from kindergarten to grade 12 every single day and sooner or later, they’re going to start eating them.”
Not only do healthy meals better prepare students for each day of learning, these breakfast programs also develop schools’ social communities by providing an opportunity to share food with peers. In her announcement, Piruzza celebrated students’ role in the success of the program: “They prepare the food, they help serve the food and even when you go into the grade schools you see the kids serving each other and helping each other.”
From the Ontario Government News Release:
“Expanding the Student Nutrition Program is part of Ontario’s plan to break down barriers for low income Ontarians and address the effects of poverty. By promoting student success, it is also part of the government’s economic plan that is creating jobs for today and tomorrow by focussing on Ontario’s greatest strength – its people and strategic partnerships.”
Read The Windsor Star article, “Windsor school breakfast program expands (with video),” for more information about the announcement event.