Celebrating the expansion of central Okanagan school breakfast program

Pancakes were on the menu Tuesday morning at a Kelowna middle school as the Breakfast Club of Canada and the Okanagan Community Food Bank celebrated the opening of three additional school breakfast programs in the area this year.

The Breakfast Club now feeds almost 300 children at five schools in Kelowna and West Kelowna each weekday morning.

The meals offer hot and cold options and are nutritionally balanced.

Robin Ryan, senior advisor with the organization, attended Tuesday’s celebration and praised the value of the programs saying hunger can be detrimental to a child’s performance at school.

“There’s a lot of academic research out there that shows students have a hard time focusing in class, are less likely to arrive on time, bullying increases and all of these different factors affect academic outcomes,” Ryan said. “It’s not just about studying although this does help that. It builds a family here at the school and creates some friendships for kids.”

The Breakfast Club of Canada has been funding school breakfast programs across the country since 2005.