The Fredericton Boys and Girls Club’s unique breakfast program hosts children from all demographics to eliminate the stigma of the program being geared towards low-income families.
“Some aren’t hungry when they first wake up, some come because they want to socialize, some families need the financial support of a program like this to help them out,” said Lisa Roy, the club’s director of program services.
“So our program is all inclusive.”
Every day, the food is dropped off at local elementary and high schools.
“We’re feeding over 250 children every morning during the whole school year,” said Roy.
The breakfast club costs over $10,000 a school year to run and they are in need of donations.
“We’re doing our best to feed children fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains. Those are things we really can appreciate having donations of, especially on the front and at the very end of the school year, where we often just don’t have enough food to get through the entire school year with the current donations that we have,” said Roy.
WATCH: Moncton food program in need of donations
They also need more hands in the kitchen and they’ve gotten help from the Hilton Garden Inn.
“We wanted to think of a way that we could contribute to this city and in a big way so we wanted to support one organization to its fullest,” said Celine Bertin, the hotel’s general manager.
Staff from the hotel come to the club and assist with food prep, but the program director says they need more help.
“Volunteers who can come help and deliver the program, it runs from 7:20 a.m. to about 8:30 a.m., so it could be a commitment of just an hour a week. It makes a huge difference,” said Roy.