The adjustment of returning to at-home learning this week has not been easy for many Alberta students, but an Edmonton organization is attempting to make it a little more enjoyable.
The Hope Mission’s TeglerYouth Centre is supporting K-12 students in north Edmonton as they have made the transition to learning from home.
The centre typically delivers 2,500 free lunches per week to 10 public and Catholic schools in north Edmonton. With students returning to online learning on May 10 as part of the province’s additional measures to stop the rise of COVID-19 in Alberta, the Hope Mission decided to pivot rather than pause the free lunch program.
“We have been calling families to see if it would be beneficial for us to deliver the sandwiches and lunches to them,” Hope Mission community liaison Lauren Reid said.
Reid said the response has been overwhelming. The centre is delivering lunches to the homes of 100 students three times per week as well as dropping off lunches at three schools that then provide the lunches to students, for a total of about 1,700 free bagged lunches weekly.
“There’s a lot of families that need that extra support right now. Whether it’s single-parent homes or families who have had some cutdown on employment because of COVID, it just makes it hard to get food on the table,” she said.
“When you think of being at work and juggling your kids being at home and school being online, it’s extra challenging to figure out all those little things, so we hope this can help out with not only financially and getting food on the table, but also just being one less thing for parents to worry about.”
The demand has been so great that the Hope Mission is intending to hire additional staff to help increase the number of lunches it delivers.
“We really wanted to do this because we really care about kids and families in our community and it’s so important for kids to not have to worry about where that next meal is coming from,” Reid said. “It just helps them to thrive and learn better in school, and with all the challenges a pandemic creates, this is just one less thing for them to think about.”
Each lunch comes with a sandwich, fruit or vegetable, snack and juice box.
Families interested in joining the free lunch program can contact the TeglerYouth Centre and those who would like to donate to the program can contact the Hope Mission.
The TeglerYouth Centre has been in existence for 20 years, delivering various programs for Edmonton’s youth and allowing children to access its centre, which features an indoor skate park, a games room and a media arts centre.
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