Around 300 Brantford, Brant County, Haldimand and Norfolk students and their families got a helping hand this summer in the form of food hampers and wellness check-ins.
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It’s the first time the Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB) has offered these supports to their student body of around 27,000, spread across 58 elementary and 14 secondary schools.
Through the year, students have access to breakfast and snack programs, and this initiative was designed to help “fill the gap” when students weren’t in school, Ryan Strang, senior manager of communications and community relations for the school board, told The Spectator in an email.
In 2023, food insecurity affected around one in six households in Brantford-Brant — meaning they had “inadequate access to nutritious food due to a lack of money” — according to a report from the Brant County Health Unit.
In August, the Paris food bank put out a desperate plea for donations after their shelves ran bare for the first time in 19 years. Nearby, the Little Free Pantry of Paris was facing similar strain.
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Two-hundred and three families received food hampers, according to a summer learning report presented at the September board meeting.
Parents and caregivers could self-identify for the support, and staff also put forward names of students they thought might benefit from the help, Strang said.
Of those families, 139 also received wellness check-ins, which varied from “supportive conversations” to connecting families with service providers in the community, he said.
The initiative was organized and implemented by a team of 10 “extremely dedicated” mental health support staff from the school board, and paid for through provincial funding. Its continuation in future summers is dependent on funding, but the school board will continue to ensure it is supporting families where possible, Strang said.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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