School starts with big breakfast

BY NANCY KELLY

Kings County Register

Students at West Kings will get a good, nutritional start to the day with the introduction of the school’s Breakfast for Learning program.

The program, which offers “grab and go” food items - fruit, yogurt and cereal - will run each morning from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the school lobby. Students will be able to take advantage of items that will provide a serving of three of the four recommended food groups on a daily basis.

Vanda Dow of West Kings’ office said the move to host the program in a high traffic area rather than in a classroom space elsewhere in the school was a conscious decision. “The lobby is the place to catch students in the morning, as most of them pass through or by here on their way to class. Having it accessible to all also removes any stigma that students may feel about needing to access breakfast.”

Lindsay Redden, Food Services Manager for the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board, agrees the new format is more suitable. “The older they become, the less likely they are to be interested in a traditional sit-down breakfast.”

He acknowledges, as a good many of West Kings students are out of the house and on the bus by 7 a.m., breakfast at home isn’t always an option. “The offerings here are just right to keep (the students’) blood sugar levels where they should be to work and function effectively while helping to develop some good habits that we hope will stay with them.”

The program is funded with donations from the Breakfast For Learning Foudation, the AVRSB’s Health Promoting Schools program, the Berwick and District Interfaith Outreach Society (also known as Feed My Lambs) and proceeds from the school’s casual day fund. Dow says any additional community assistance or sponsorship will be greatly appreciated.

As part of the program launch, food item donations were also accepted for the Upper Room Foodbank in Kingston.