Nakasuk School breakfast program needs help

SARA ARNATSIAQ

A staff member at Nakasuk School in Iqaluit noticed several years ago that some students were coming to school with empty stomachs, lacking energy and enthusiasm. Some looked as if they couldn’t think.

So a breakfast program was started about three years ago, where crackers, cheese, apples and oranges were given to the students. Then a breakfast program started, serving milk, juice, apples and oranges.

This breakfast program was originally intended for students living in poverty.

This winter, the number of Naksuk students who need breakfast has risen considerably, to 46.

The Nakasuk staff member, who does not want to be identified, said: “When the mother or the father is employed, their kids are coming in for breakfast. And if the kid is hungry, then we’ll definitely feed them. But the point is that they should be able to eat at home.”

Part of the problem might be that some parents abuse alcohol and drugs, but because the source has not researched the real reason why the kids aren’t being fed at home, she wasn’t able to say exactly why.

“Some parents probably have the means to provide breakfast at home, so it’s their kids that have increased the high numbers having to be fed,” the woman said.

She said that as mothers and grandmothers, we all should know that everything in life starts at home.

This should include parents feeding their children – children should be a priority. When it’s possible, we should be providing food to our children at home.

Nakasuk School sends out newsletters to parents to inform them about what is going on. Several months ago, the school asked that parents volunteer 10, 15 or even just 20 minutes of their time to help with the breakfast program.

This request was made because the work of one person feeding many, many students was getting too demanding. And other staff members have classes to teach, or to stay in the office and mind the telephones.

One parent answered the newsletter and came once to volunteer, but that parent never returned. There are two non-Inuit parents who regularly volunteer on Mondays and Fridays, but help is still needed.

“Yes. We do really need the volunteers. Parents should be feeding their children. Because they are aware that the breakfast program will feed their children, they’re just taking advantage of it,” the woman said.

The woman said that everyone is aware that groceries are expensive in any store in Iqaluit, and know that the less fortunate people cannot afford to buy food.

But her issue is with parents who have jobs, but whose children are eating in the breakfast program – when the breakfast program is meant for those in poverty.

“At lunch time, there are a number of students who have not eaten at all. And here, we do not have lunchables other than cup o’ soup and crackers that will get them by, but we do not provide for full healthy meals at lunch time,” she said.

They can ask for donations from hunters, but there is no staff member to run a lunch program. Besides, the teachers and other staff members have to eat themselves, and sometimes this is their only opportunity for a short break.

“I do not want to bad-mouth my fellow citizens, but I am stating a fact. I believe it to be a concern, because I see it.”

The Nakasuk School is also requesting donations of used clothing for children who need them. Sometimes when children are playing outside they pee in their pants accidently, but there is no extra clothing for them to change into.

Pants, especially are needed, even if they are used, for donation to the school.

Also, there are lots of clothing and pants that students have put on and have not returned. The school also requests that these itmes clothing, if they’re still wearable – be returned to the school. Other donations such as shoes and other items are also very welcome.

The soup kitchen in Iqaluit was started a couple of years ago when there was evidence of people eating out of garbage cans.

Ron McLean an Anglican minister who helps run the soup kitchen during weekdays and the supper kitchen on weekends, said that they have as many as 40 people a day eating in the soup kitchen.

The lowest number they have is 35. Recently the number of people eating in the soup kitchen has risen as high as 50 to 55.

“The majority of them are unemployed. We do have people who come that have jobs. If people do not need to come there, if they’ve got financial stability – we prefer that they do not come. I do not question the people that come, because I don’t know their financial situation at all,” McLean said.

“I do know that when the social assistance comes in, then our numbers drop. Obviously when they’ve got money, they don’t use the soup kitchen. And we really appreciate that, because that makes what little money we have go further. But then you know when they’ve run out of money, because they start coming back again.”

McLean was able to say that the problem might be the same as it is in the Nakasuk School breakfast program.

“And we have the same problem at the soup kitchen too. We have people who come there that have had money, and spent it on drugs and alcohol. But, on the same token, we have to feed these people.”

McLean has counselled individuals facing problems in their lives, and he stresses that its a matter of reaching out for help with whatever the problem is. He has also referred people to other sources of help, when it is beyond his means to address such a problem.

As for the breakfast program, where will these students eat when school is out for the summer?