The Feeding our Future Emergency Lunch program will continue in schools across Prince Albert.
The program serves student in both the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division and Prince Albert Catholic School Division. It provides emergency lunches to all children in need, from Kindergarten through Grade 8.
The program partners include Lakeland Ford, Lakeland Hyundai, Broda Group, Lake Country Co-op, Conexus Credit Union and B&B Construction.
Prince Albert Catholic School Division education director Lorel Trumier thanked those partners for their commitment.
“We’re very grateful for the opportunity to serve students some emergency lunches, and we try to really make sure that anybody who needs it will receive it,” Trumier said. “We really couldn’t do it without the partners. It’s made a tremendous difference for our children in school because children tend not to perform well when they don’t have food.”
Trumier updated the board of education on the program during their regular meeting on Monday.
Superintendent Garette Tebay of the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division said the division also appreciates the program.
“That support is invaluable,” Tebay said. “It allows for our schools to have a reliable source of emergency lunches to ensure that our students who are experiencing food insecurities just know that when they come to school there’s going to be something for them to eat at lunch each day.”
A Catholic School Division memo shows 13,710 emergency lunches were provided for students during the division’s 2024-2025 school year (from September to May). Each lunch provides a meat sandwich, a piece of fruit and some yogurt.
According to the Catholic Division memo, the donated value of the lunches was more than $28,000. The partners have confirmed their commitment for 2025-2026.
Trumier said there is no way the division would be able to meet that need on their own as demand has increased.
“The cost of living has gone up and the cost of food has gone up and we’re really seeing the impacts of that,” she said.
Tebay said the division has been doing some work related to food insecurity and the need is shown in that.
“We did some pre-research around the National Food Program last year through the SSBA and our community the researcher was astonished with the support that our community receives,” Tebay said.
On Dec. 5, 2016, Lakeland Ford, Lakeland Hyundai, the Broda Group and Lakeland Co-op collaborated to start the initiative. Conexus Credit Union came aboard in 2019.
Together, these businesses have fulfilled an urgent need for the children of Prince Albert – providing nutrition and better allow children to learn.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
