N.B. food bank sees ‘more and more kids’ as questions linger over school lunch program delay

The Albert County Food Bank is seeing more clients than ever before, as a larger number of families struggle to put food on the table.

The food bank is located in the same building as the Riverview Boys and Girls Club, where executive director Lynda Carey said an increased number of children who are visiting are hungry.

“Kids come down to our program space where we get lunches that are available to them through fundraising efforts of the club,” she said.

“More and more kids are coming, anywhere between 20 and 25 kids a day, coming down to get lunch. It’s more all the time, more kids needing food options.”

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Carey was disappointed to learn that a federally funded pay-what-you-can school lunch program was being pushed back by the province until next September.

On Friday, New Brunswick’s Liberal government announced it was postponing the program by a year, reneging on an election promise.

In a statement sent to Global News, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said the government is taking the extra time to study issues that have come up from similar programs.

“We will take the lessons we learn from this expansion, the lessons learned in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island when they launched their respective lunch programs, and the findings of the Auditors General in those jurisdictions and apply them to the rollout of the school lunch program in the 2026-27 school year to ensure it can accessed by all public school students from day one,” the statement read.

In Nova Scotia, hundreds of parents complained about the food being served under the new program.

In Prince Edward Island, an auditor general’s report showed that much of the food being served was not compliant with federal nutrition guidelines.

“I’m hoping the delay is simply because they want to do it right and will be successful and won’t be paused in any way. It is vital,” Carey said.

She said what used to be compromises in people’s budgets have become sacrifices and a rising number of families need all the help they can get.