Eight West Island restaurants are part of the Feed Our Future pilot program with the Lester B. Pearson school board, to make sure no schoolchildren go hungry at lunch.
“Each restaurant would prepare 25 meals, a couple times a month and they would rotate so every day there are meals being sent to those schools specifically for those kids who unfortunately can’t bring lunch to school,” said the Feed Our Future organizer Corey Szwarcok.
During the pandemic, Szwarcok and a group of friends created a Facebook group called West Island Restaurants to promote and support local businesses. Through the page, Szwarcok established relationships with several of the restauranteurs.
Together they started to discuss how they could give back to the community and approached the Lester B. Pearson school board.
“The numbers are going up every year, there’s hungry kids in all of our schools,” said LBPSB Food Management Technician Janet Maccullie.
Maccullie said the problem isn’t isolated either.
“The West Island, people tend to think it’s a fairly affluent area but for a lot of different reasons, families are finding it hard to make ends meet so we have kids in all of our schools that need a little help.”
On the menu Thursday was fusilli pasta and a ciabatta bun from Pierrefonds restaurant Vivaldi. When its owner Steven Droulis was approached to be one of the eight pilot project restaurants involved, he said it was a no-brainer.
“For an restaurant with an experienced crew to put out 25 lunches now and then, is not a big time commitment, its not a big financial commitment even in a pandemic.”
Other West Island restaurants include Rockaberry, Nolah, Duke & Devine, Amy’s, Rock N Deli, Del Frisco and Quesada Pointe Claire.
Terry Fox Elementary is one of the five schools participating in the pilot project. Principal Douglas Stewart delivered the meals to his school on Thursday, saying a warm pasta lunch gives students a much-needed boost.
“They left with smiles on their faces,” Stewart said. “They loved it; it was a real treat for them.”
The plan is to expand the program to include more restaurants and schools by the fall.
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