Volunteers help make food baskets as part of the Grande Prairie Public School Division's "Nutrition Heroes" program. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

Nutrition Heroes

GPPSD’s Nutrition Heroes program helps students and families during COVID-19

Jun 16, 2020 | 12:21 PM

The Grande Prairie Public School Division’s Nutrition Heroes program is helping hundreds of families in Grande Prairie put food on the table during COVID-19.

The program was created back on March 22, shortly after the Province of Alberta cancelled all in-school classes because of the novel coronavirus.

The program was established as a temporary replacement for the division’s regular lunch and snack program, that would ensure that kids attending school that opted into the program would be getting a lunch and snack throughout the day despite classes being cancelled.

Nick Radujko is the former Assistant Superintendent with the GPPSD, and was one of several volunteers helping put together the final boxes together for families at Roy Bickell Public School on Tuesday.

“When the classes were cancelled in mid-March, we had to think of something new and what we chose is nutrition basic boxes. The boxes tend to have basic staples such as rice, pasta, pasta sauce, peanut butter, and bread. We have had canned ham and tuna when we can get it, but it’s really to provide protein and basic essentials to families.”

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Radujko noted that since the program launched on March 22, the GPPSD says that they have distributed over 2,000 boxes of food to families within the school district.

When the program launched the division was distributing about 100 boxes per week.

However, since the pandemic has grown, the school division says its now distributing 220 boxes to families per week. As the official school year draws to an end, they will donate 440 boxes to families for the next couple of weeks, to ensure that kids and families are fed until the end of the school year and for a small part of the summer.

Around a dozen volunteers help make the food boxes. With the amount of people that they have, the volunteers can make 19 food boxes in around 10 minutes. Once the boxes are completed, they are available for pick up at Roy Bickell Public School for families to take.

Food in food baskets. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

Those who cannot pick up their food boxes don’t have to worry about having to drive to the school thanks to a partnership the division has with Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) Cares program.

“GPRC Cares have been wonderful and they will pick up boxes for families who cannot pick them up and they deliver them to the (families) home.”

To this point, the program has been deemed a success. Radujko said that the toughest part about the program was at the start when basic foods such as rice were hard to come by. Thankfully, they were able to contact some food suppliers to ensure that they can get food into the boxes, without taking away from the rest of the supply chain.

With the school year coming to an end and the program going on pause, the Salvation Army is stepping up to help out the families throughout the summer.

Radujko says the Salvation Army plans to give families that are registered in the Nutrition Heroes program each a $200 gift card per child, per month, throughout the summer, to a grocery store in the city until school resumes. This will ensure that children and their families can be fed throughout the summer.

Radujko added that if kids return to the classroom in the Fall, the division will switch back to their regular lunch and snack program. However, if schools remain closed, more discussions will need to be had to see if the program can remain feasible as it is expensive.