EXTRA GROCERIES
Laura Anaka, in yellow, gathers food items to be placed into hampers as part of a nutrition program being run out of Archbishop M.C. O’neill Catholic High School. About 200 boxes were prepared on Tuesday to help stretch family budgets.
Four workers moved quickly between tables covered in boxes and crates of food piled on the floor in the middle, filling the boxes with a variety of items a family could use to stay well-fed.
Tuesday morning was the fourth time the workers, all employees of the Regina Catholic School Division, had packed up food hampers in the gymnasium of Archbishop M.C. O’neill Catholic High School like this for families in need.
When the COVID -19 pandemic hit and all schools in Saskatchewan were ordered to close, the Regina Catholic School Division (RCSD) looked for ways it could still serve the families that largely relied on its lunch program.
“For a lot of our kids, our nutrition programs are their only constant source of nutrition and so (staff) were really worried,” said Stacey Gherasim, superintendent of education services with RCSD.
“I decided that we needed to see if we could find another way to support them because we were also worried about the capacity of the Regina Food Bank.”
The division reached out to schools to see if they knew families who weren’t receiving the support they needed, and a partnership was established with the Regina Food Bank. Donations from Nutrien and Breakfast Club of Canada gave them the funding they needed to start packing hampers.
Lesa George, the nutrition worker at O’neill, said she and other support staff were looking for ways to still help students during this time and were happy to take up the task of putting together the boxes.
“We’re not feeding a family, we’re helping them stretch their dollar so we try to give them things that will last, maybe not as many fruits and vegetables,” she said.
Items like cereal, bread, eggs, peanut butter, Kraft Dinner, pancake mix and cans of soup were divided up into the hampers, depending on the number of people in each family.
Keenan Cummings is a First Nation, Metis and Inuit student adviser at O’neill and has helped pack all the hampers.
“It kind of keeps the mind stimulated,” he said. “Being able to do that, all while still getting the chance to give back to some of these families in the community, is amazing.”
George said she does not believe the need for food support has grown among the division’s families in this time, but how they meet the need has changed.
George and her team have packed more than 200 food hampers in two months, with around 55 made at a time, but now their support is drawing to a close.
Tuesday was the last time workers will be putting together the hampers before halting for the summer.
“We’re just seeing a continual need and that’s why it’s so important for people to continue donating to the food bank, because we won’t be here July and August and those little mouths are still hungry,” said George.
“We do know that there’s lots of other places that are doing bagged lunches so we’re just hopeful.”