By Curtis Galbraith

Education

Lunches given out in GPPSD’s Nutrition Program more than doubles in recent years

Dec 14, 2023 | 6:00 AM

The number of lunches given out in the Grande Prairie Public School Division’s Nutrition Program has more than doubled in the last two to three years, according to the division’s Superintendent.

Sandy McDonald says the program gives out 350 to 400 lunches daily.

“To participate, there’s nothing a parent needs to do except to talk to their school principal or their child’s teacher and say ‘I hear you’ve got this lunch program. We’d like to be able to take advantage of that,’ and it’s an ‘OK, you’ve got it. This is how it works.”

McDonald says the increase is likely due to a combination of things.

“We really do think it’s related to the cost of inflation, you know, grocery prices, utility costs, other inflationary pressures.”

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“We don’t spend too much time trying to identify root causes, we just want to spend (our) time and energy and resources on addressing the nature of the problem.”

The Nutrition Program supplies a daily lunch to anyone in Kindergarten to Grade 8 who needs one. Two staff prepare the meals and get them out to the schools.

McDonald says the division gets a nutrition grant from Alberta Education, then supplements it with donations from the community.

A recent $10,000 donation from the Grande Prairie Firefighters Charitable Foundation went to the Nutrition Program.

McDonald calls the organization “spectacular community partners.”

“Not just for our school division, we know they make a difference city-wide.”

“A few years ago, our school board recognized them as the Grande Prairie Public School Division’s nominee for the Friends of Education Award that is given out by the Alberta School Boards Association.”

McDonald says donations to the division are tax deductible and anyone interested in making one can contact the main office at 780-532-4491.

Besides the Nutrition Program, there is also KinderPAL for Kindergarten-age kids. There are also other needs or donations in general that can be accepted.