Saskatoon school nutrition programs struggling with rising costs
School programs that provide breakfasts and lunches for Saskatoon students are feeling the pinch of rising costs.
Breakfast Club of Canada, which has been running breakfast programs for over 27 years, is looking at a $300,000 shortfall.
“We have a projected budget with a shortfall due to the rising cost of food and living in general,” co-founder and director of government relations Judith Barry said. “It is highly impacting our operations and our ability to support children across Canada."
“Our expenses are higher than ever.”
They support 50 schools in the province and feed over 500,000 students across the country.
“The Breakfast Club of Canada program is directly impacted by the cost of food and cost of transportation to ship products,” Barry said. She added the temporary emergency funding from the government which had been available to the organization for the past couple of years won’t be available this year.
“So we won't be able to onboard new breakfast programs, that's for sure. And even to maintain our level of contributions to existing programs will be really difficult this year.”
The Child Hunger Education Program (CHEP) is also adjusting to rising food costs Community Relations Facilitator Heather Jackle told CTV News.
“With the rising food costs, it means that we aren't able to potentially provide as much food to students in need,” Jackle said.
“For some of our core food items, which are milk, eggs, and apples, we've seen quite a significant increase in costs, milk being 10 per cent, eggs being 22 per cent, apples, 51 per cent, and oranges 70 per cent. So again, those are some significant increases that we're likely going to have to cut back on the amount of food that students will receive.”
CHEP gets its core funding from the Ministry of Education, Jackle said.
“We know that we get an allocated amount of money to go towards these programs, but it's more about how much food we're actually going to be able to give the students in comparison to years prior," she said.
Jackle said it put more pressure on their staff and the schools, “to find more funding forces, which is a challenge given that we're already working within a limited capacity. So that's a challenge alongside that as well.”
Barry said there were ways that donors could support their program, detailed on its website.
CHEP also allows donations to be made on its website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.