>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> From:   Sherrie Tingley[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:   Tuesday, September 16, 1997 10:04 PM
> To:     [log in to unmask]
> Subject:        Looking for Help- feeding children
>

Greetings. I would like to respond as someone who is part of an
organization that is involved in breakfast/snack programs to provide you
some ideas on why and how we operate our programs.

We are located in North Victoria County (for more info on our healthy
communities program which is a partner please see
http://www.web/net/~nvhcc) which is a rural area with low employment and
low incomes. Currently we support 7 schools with another 3 starting this
year.

> Hi Friends,
>
> I am writing to you looking for help on writing a couple things on
> poverty from the perspective of women living in poverty. Often our
> voices are rarely  heard in the 'expert discourse' on these issues. The
> issues of Child Feeding Programs and the Federal Provincial Child
> Benefit are ones that I think need to be addressed.
>
> What has propelled me to this point that I feel we have to attempt to
> use this electronic space to find our voices, is a number of things, the
> federal/provincial report on the child benefit based on the overriding
> assumption that people on welfare need to be forced to work and the
> Women from the Canadian Living Foundation stating that the biggest issue
> facing our country is the need for a  national breakfast program. (Not
> unemployment, not lack of affordable housing, not lack of adequate
> income, not lack of legal assistance for women to get the child support
> they are entitled to, not women abuse, NOPE, a breakfast program)

While at a recent meeting in Toronto with the CLF, the need for a
SUPPORTED breakfast program was the main issue. This is so that once a
program is operating it can remain operating.

The other issues that you mention ARE very important - and most are more
important than a breakfast program, however - these programs are
sometimes run by people who have a real heart for these situations and
are still concerned about the other issues.


>
> My initial thoughts on the child feeding programs is that it is the
> ultimate slap in the face for women struggling to provide for their
> children.  It is very sick to be calling for a national program that
> gives out freebies of sugar pops when we have lost a national housing
> program and seen rates in Ontario reduced to a point where the majority
> of children and other family members on welfare have $2.50 a day for all
> their basic needs (including tooth paste, soap, school fees and food).

One of the main purposes of breakfast/snack programs besides the desire
to combat child poverty (which does exist in our area) is to provide
education, health promotion and to show the children that the community
cares. It is to provide an atmosphere of acceptance and should be
designed to be non-stigmatizing. I understand that not all programs
operate this way.

The programs are also designed to be nutritious and to teach the basics
of proper nutrition by incorporating all of the food groups. There
should never be "sugar pops" provided.

A proper breakfast will help the children to learn in school. Our
programs are run as "clubs" with no membership and no cost. Any child
that would like to eat is welcome to come, even if they have already had
some form of breakfast.

One of the 1st steps that we take in starting a new club is to do a
survey in the school to determine the needs. On average - 25-28% of the
children come with no breakfast and 50-65% come having had an improper
breakfast. The need is there (it should be noted that for many of the
children who have not had breakfast, it is not necessarily true that
they have no food in the home - there are many other causes)

>
> Other reasons it is sick include:
>
> *It has no advocacy involved.

We always try to encourage parent/community involvement - we have
actually started a NutriLink project in Victoria and Haliburton counties
which is to advocate of the issue of food security.
>
> *It is not accountable to consumers

Again, local involvement, especially of the parents of children using
the service is encouraged and supported.
>
>
*It does almost nothing to address the real health ramifications of
> poverty that impact both the children in families and the adults
>
It is a start. By educating the children at a young age of the need for
proper nutrition and by providing them this opportunity it allows us to
assist in their development.

> *It is a totally inappropriate response to poverty

Again - it is a beginning. Part of our goals with each program is to
provide assistance to the community to start working on the issue of
food security which can be in the form of community kitchens, comunity
gardens, food co-ops, etc.
>
> *Feeding our children is fundamental to parenting, what happens to us
> when we are forced to rely on a breakfast program for some of our
> children?
>
By making our programs open to all - we are trying to be
non-stigmatizing. It is not a condemnation of the parents but rather an
effort to try to allow the community to assist the parents.

> * The statement that children can not learn if they are hungry is the
> sickest thing I have ever heard, does that mean we only feed them when
> they have to go to school?  Does that mean if they could learn it would
> be OK?

Children do learn better if they do not have to worry about being
hungry. We have been told by teachers that some children who have shown
a significant change in behaviour and attitude in the classroom - which
will help them to learn for their future.

 Does that mean other family members can starve, specifically
> their mothers?

Of course not - in fact we welcome parents who are in need of food to
attend the breakfast program if they want - those who assist are allowed
to have food (of course - if someone was in need - we would provide for
them also).


>
> *In my local Board of Education with 43,000 students school fees and
> fundraising are the norm. When the welfare cuts were announced, we met
> with a school principal of the school that served the most children on
> welfare to ask him to consider the demands on family income they were
> making by asking for fees and holding WEEKLY pizza days. We told him
> that many families put fitting into school first and a pizza day for two
> children would mean that many family went for the week-end without milk.
> WE got nowhere!

I agree -  this is not a good form of health promotion and creates an
undue hardship on many families.

>
> *How these feeding programs work in my community is that the church
> 'ladies' buy? bake muffins, teachers Identify? needy children and direct
> them into the feeding program (parents are not told, either that their
> children are being fed or that the opportunity for their children to be
> fed is available due to concerns of fraud) The 'feeding children' must
> troop off to the school basement in the morning (other kids laugh) and
> get their muffin.  Charity- isn't it wonderful?

Again - this is not how we operate - perhaps you should join the
sponsoring committee/agency to provide input.

>
> *We have asked time and time again both the board and the community to
> explain this to us and gotten nowhere, they look at us with horror and
> say: "You want children to go hungry?"  We have asked if the muffins
> could not be available at a central location for the mothers to pick up,
> we have asked and asked and asked and we have got nowhere.  They even
> talk about the low rate of fraud in their program!!!!!!

Sometimes, because of the volunteers in the programs a compromise has to
be reached. Each situation we serve is unique.

>
> Maybe there are good programs I do not know, and maybe there are
> programs that include a recognition that housing and income are things
> that must be addressed again I do not know.
>
> But if we let these people and governments get away with implementing
> feeding programs instead of providing adequate income to people in need,
> are we not complacent in the torture of poor people?  Are we not saying
> that women would spend the money we gave them inappropriately?

Keep lobbying for change - a breakfast program in my opinion can be a
good thing - however the needs are indeed broad in any community.

>
> Feel free to forward to anyone who may be interested in this issue,
> primarily women on welfare.
>
> Thanks all,
> Sherrie Tingley
> Barrie Action Committee for Women
> [log in to unmask]

Thanks for this opportunity to explain our programs in part. If you
would like further information, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,


Peter Jones, Chair
North Victoria Healthy Communities Coalition
Box 322 Coboconk ON K0M 1K0
705.454.8875
[log in to unmask]

on behalf of:
The North Victoria Healthy Communities Coalition
and
Youth Aflame Ministries Inc., Food Reach Program