The Sundre & District Nutrition for Learning Society at River Valley School will be under new leadership when it resumes in the fall.
After fulfilling the coordinator position for seven years, Angela Schmiemann has handed it over to Heather Hicks, effective last week.
Hicks has sat on the board before and has volunteered for the program. She says she is going to spend the summer coming up with a menu plan.
“I've been quizzing my kids and other students for snack ideas and things that they'd like to see or what they liked and what they didn't,” said Hicks.
Schmiemann said Hicks will be able to bring in more volunteers, which is essential to the program.
“Without our volunteers, this program would not happen,” said Schmiemann.
“It's going to continue on in the same form, just maybe a new flavour, because it's a new person and she has her own ideas of how things are going to go.”
Because of the society, every child in River Valley School receives a snack and milk, free of charge, three to four times a week.
“It's one of the only programs, groups, clubs, organizations, whatever, in our community that benefits and affects every single child in our school,” said Schmiemann.
“It does benefit every single child that comes through our school, there's no other organization that can say that.”
The society's mandate is to include every child at the school, whereas some programs only provide to the children in need, she said.
“We've always made it our mandate that we are not going to segregate and pick and choose, because how do you do that and say ‘today you're hungry and tomorrow you're not', and also to put that label on that kid,” she said.
“By being universal to everybody, you're including everybody, and everybody is put on the exact same playing field.”
The program started in Sundre in 2001, she said.
“It was actually a group of grandmas that had started it.”
They started by giving out snacks that weren't necessarily healthy, like doughnuts.
“But they weren't accepted at the school, and they weren't even allowed at the school. They stood out on the sidewalk at the school and handed out these things,” she said.
The society now has a partnership with the school and uses the kitchen to prepare the snacks.
The majority of the society's income is based on grants. The society also hosts fundraisers like an annual golf tournament. But Schmiemann admitted monetary donations are low.
She said on average, each snack, per child, per day, costs about $1. They are feeding approximately 600 to 650 children three to four times a week. Plus there are rental, insurance, administration and equipment costs.
But Hicks said although the monetary donations are low, there are several people who donate their time. The society has a volunteer base of anywhere from 40 to 60 people each year.
