GM helping to feed school nutrition programs

For the third year in a row, General Motors St. Catharines donated $5,000 to the Niagara Nutrition Partners to fund the Santa Surprise program.

The initiative provides food for 10 different schools across the Niagara region each year.

Anne Kirkpatrick, program manager of NNP, said, “We do get donations around the year, but certainly nothing as large as that.”

Kirkpatrick said Santa Surprise was first scheduled to run in 2015 when an anonymous donor offered $8,000. At the last minute, that donor backed out and NNP was left scrambling to come up with funds. That was the first year the $5,000 cheque arrived from GM.

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, we are so lucky.’”

“For many years, GM St. Catharines has been committed to driving change in Niagara, said Carolyne Watts, GM St. Catharines plant manager, in a media release. “There is no one more deserving of our support than the children who will one day be the future of our community.”

Kirkpatrick said there are 200 programs in 150 schools across Niagara, meaning some schools have more than one program. The programs provide breakfast, snacks, or lunch for hungry students.

“All kids are welcomed to attend the program, and in that way, we’re assured that kids who need to be there, actually cross the threshold and go into that food room ... because it’s opening and welcome to all,” Kirkpatrick said. “(Hunger) really affects their ability to learn, their readiness, their cognitive ability, their social skills, their behaviour, so that becomes really noticeable.”

NNP’s website says the program receives 15 per cent of its funding from the Ontario Min- istry of Child and Youth Services, and fundraises the remaining 85 per cent. Kirkpatrick said there are programs in about 85 to 90 per cent of schools across Niagara.

“We are honoured to assist NNP with such a worthwhile initiative,” Watts said.

While NNP works in partnership with schools to meet funding needs, Kirkpatrick said support can also be non-monetary in nature, such as vouchers, coupons, and food donations.

“It really is a myriad of different strategies, I guess, to pull funds and to pull products that can be used for student nutrition programs.”

She stressed that the nutrition guidelines from the province are quite strict in terms of what can be served.

“It’s all based on the best nutrition possible for students and a lot of it is based on whole foods and vegetables,” she said.

Kirkpatrick said NNP receives a “handful” of donations in the Christmas season, but is working to develop its website to be more accessible to donors.

“We are hopeful that in the years to come we do a better job, in terms of reaching out and getting donations, especially at Christmastime.”

The school programs can choose from where to buy their groceries, but NNP works with Lococo’s on Santa Surprise.

Some of the items included apples, grapes, whole wheat bagels, whole grain cereals, yogurt, cheese strings and granola bars.

“They have been accommodating to us, in terms of putting together this initiative and having the logistics (and) everything go as smoothly as possible — Lococo’s has been a good partner,” said Kirkpatrick.

The 10 schools to benefit from Santa Surprise this year are Greater Fort Erie Secondary School, John Brant, St. George, Ecole Saint-Joseph, McKay, Dewitt Carter, St. Elizabeth, Peace Bridge, St. Charles and Ontario Public School.