I’m using my column this week to put out a call for volunteers to step up and save hot lunch programs in Sunshine Coast schools.
Hot lunch programs in School District No. 46 are run by volunteers, usually stay-at-home moms, who coordinate and make or order the food that’s served to students once or twice a week.
The meals are affordable, give parents a break from packing a lunch, and produce leftovers that can be offered to students who have forgotten their lunches or have been sent to school without them.
Hot lunch programs are huge fundraisers for schools, bringing in thousands a year to be disbursed by parent advisory committees (PACs) for things like new team uniforms, sports equipment, literature, technology, guest speakers, educational experiences, field trips and more.
Last year the Chatelech Secondary School PAC brought in around $8,000 through the hot lunch program, run by two stellar volunteers.
Sounds great, right? It is, if you can find willing volunteers with enough time to devote to the program.
As children age out of elementary and high schools and parents take on full-time jobs, the pool of volunteers must continually be replenished.
Right now replenishment is lacking in several schools.
At West Sechelt Elementary the hot lunch program was cancelled this year, after numerous pleas for help. At Chatelech Secondary, the program will end soon if no one steps up to take over, as the volunteers’ children will be graduating this year.
I’m on the Chat PAC and we’ve been talking a lot about what to do if another volunteer can’t be found within our school. There’s no easy answer.
Some ideas include paying someone a small salary to do the job (which of course would impact the profitability), trying to get students trained and able to do the job (however, that would require repeated training of new students and a parent volunteer to oversee the effort), and the pooling of resources to hire a single volunteer coordinator to order for all Coast schools.
That last one could prove tricky because all schools likely don’t want to serve the same food, and volunteers would still be needed to hand out meals at lunch times.
One idea floated by a PAC member that I particularly liked was reaching out to the broader community, in the hope of finding people not necessarily connected to the school with the time, energy and passion to get involved.
Consider this my outreach.
Please, think about getting involved with hot lunch at a Sunshine Coast school in your area.
Just call the school of your choice and ask how you can help.
