The School Community Council is feeding the future at Hillcrest Elementary School.
Though the program has been active in the school for a couple years now, only recently has support come pouring in for the lunch program. The SCC sent out its first letter to businesses in the area around Christmas, calling for financial donations to help buy food.
"The community has supported it big time," said Tanya Vicary, a member of the SCC. "Just in the last couple weeks, we've got in $1,900."
Feed the Future, the program's theme, works so that every student in the school gets a healthy snack. Right now the snacks are every Wednesday, but the SCC wants to open that up to more days if they get enough funding to make that happen.
Vicary noted some businesses, particularly those that are part of a chain, have a policy not to give monetary donations. She said McDonald's doesn't give cash donations but has pledged to give a free snack, like an apple, every third Wednesday for the rest of the year.
Nutrition among young students is one of the big issues the SCC has identified at its school. Vicary said many students won't bring snacks to school, and often students don't have breakfast before attending classes. In some cases students don't have healthy food for lunch.
"A lot of kids come to school and they've got a piece of cake, a bag of chips and half a sandwich. Well, OK, really? Get some carrots in there."
The program serves about 175 snacks at a cost of about 50 per student, so each day of snacks comes to about $87.50.
Launa Coyne, who is on the Feed the Future committee with Vicary, said, "It's the nutritional value too ... kids aren't going to learn to best of their ability when they're hyped up on sugar or coming down from a sugar buzz."
Both women have children attending Hillcrest and Vicary does lunchtime supervision as well.
"They basically said if it's for the kids. They don't mind donating for the kids. I explained how some don't have lunches and some don't have breakfast and they were great about it," said Vicary.
Coyne noted the local McDonald's donation, "Those apple slices for 170 kids once a month, that's a phenomenal donation, and just support like that and support from other companies ... it's very heartwarming to know how many companies and individuals (will support this initiative).
"It's wonderful to know the support that Estevan and the community has for these kids, because they are so important."
Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. has become a time of the week the students look forward to at Hillcrest, knowing a snack is on the way, delivered to each classroom by Vicary.
"It does make the kids excited when we come. It's like a huge treat."
Coyne said it would be great to go to everyday, but that's a stretch. Right now the intention is to get the program running twice a week and then go from there.
The snacks are also trial and error. Coyne said they've learned not to give out fruit cups as they got a bit messy with the younger grades, and oranges are a bit of a hassle. Apple slices and yogurt are both hits.
The SCC welcomes donations from all businesses and any individual, as at 50 a student, even a $5 donation feeds 25 students. If you're interested in donating you can call Hillcrest at 634-4931 or Tanya Vicary at 636-2467.
