Students at Hillcrest School continue to have the opportunity to enjoy a healthy breakfast on a daily basis through the Hillcrest Breakfast Club.
Sara Pippus, the community education liaison at Hillcrest, believes the Breakfast Club is a key component of the school’s success. When kids are hungry, they aren’t focused in the classroom, and that leads to disruption, which makes it more difficult for the teacher to instruct. The whole class suffers.
“It’s important for them to eat well, and take care of those basic needs, so that we can support them better in the classroom,” said Pippus.
The Hillcrest Breakfast Club was introduced in September 2011, and attracts about 60 to 70 students a day. The volunteer base has increased and older students are now lending a helping hand.
The students who were in kindergarten in 2011 are now in Grade 7.
“That’s been a really nice addition to what we do,” said Pippus. “We also have a variety of kids across the age groups that want to help every morning, and so they often, after they’ve eaten breakfast, help clean up and help put away chairs and do things like that which increases their responsibility for being part of the breakfast club,” said Pippus.
The breakfast club has three to six volunteers every day. Pippus usually tries to schedule enough people so that if someone can’t make it, the others can shoulder the responsibility.
It means that volunteers don’t feel like coming to help is an onerous thing.
Some of the volunteers have been with the program since its inception.
“For the most part, our volunteers show up, and are right away connect to the … beauty of what we’re doing here, and they get hooked and they keep coming back,” she said.
The program is always in need of volunteers, particularly as the winter months approach and some of the volunteers head south for the winter. It reduces the volunteer count by two or three per day, but they often find that it’s when people are finding out about the program and looking for help.
A variety of food is served each morning using the Canada Health Food Guide, but the meal options are pretty consistent. There are two or three choices for fruit, and vegetables have been served in the last few years. They also serve waffles, pancakes, bagels and French toast, depending on what they have in stock, and students have options such as yogurt, turkey bites and cheese, and they can grab a bowl of cereal as well.
“Lots of kids aren’t very adventurous when it comes to choosing new foods, and so we like to have taste test mornings where kids know that they’re able to come in and test it, and don’t have to finish the little portion of testing if they don’t like it,” said Pippus. “But more often than not, when we do the testing, we have shown the kids how to make new choices about what to eat and explore new food options.”
Parents enjoy the breakfast program as well. They’re often surprised with how many kids are in attendance, and with the social aspect of the club.
“I think the parents appreciate having it as an option. Lots of parents work very early in the morning, or leave for shift work, and so we’re helping to supply breakfast for kids that may not get it at home otherwise, or may not have that … social support of being by themselves at home.”
The school usually waits 1 1/2 weeks after the start of the school year before the program starts up, and the teachers notice a big difference once breakfast is being served.
“We find that it gives them time to settle in, and then we start breakfast,” said Pippus. “And the difference that can be seen in the students is quite incredible. All of a sudden, the kids are all well-fed, and coming in on the same level playing field, which we think is a key part.
“They’re learning everything from manners to being independent to learning how to help to volunteering. They’re learning to make choices about how much to eat and what to eat, and so those choices translate into a settled, less-anxious students as they go into the school day.”
The United Way Estevan has been a supporter of the breakfast program since its inception by making the club one of its community partners. Without the United Way, Pippus believes Hillcrest wouldn’t have breakfast every morning, and while other organizations also support the club, the majority of their support comes from the United Way.
People with the United Way also volunteer at the breakfast club.
The breakfast club runs from Monday to Friday. Volunteers arrive just before 8 a.m., and the students arrive at 8:15 a.m. Breakfast and cleanup are typically finished at 8:40 a.m.
