Surrey families see continued food support through summer

Healthy food options are provided for students during the summer months thanks to a new funding initiative by the province. While summer break is a time to play and enjoy the sunshine, for some students these summer months also bring the unfortunate reality of losing access to the in-school meal programs they rely on during the school year.

“July and August are difficult months for many families in our district that rely on in-school meal programs,” said Rob Rai, director of School and Community Connections. “That reliable source of nutritious meals for their children isn’t available, leading to concerns about food security and placing even greater strain on already limited resources for these families.” 

Now, thanks to a recent provincial investment by the Ministry of Education and Child Care to further fund school meal programs, Surrey families that rely on food programs during the school year are seeing continued support into the summer months.

“Now we have two streams of support running over the summer,” explained Rai. “One has us providing fresh healthy snacks for students during the summer months. These students can come by in the morning, grab a banana, apple, orange or other nutritious food to get their day started.”

The second stream, said Rai, comes in the form of take-home support which sees families provided with weekly food staples such as rice, oil, lentils, breads and pastas. New for this summer, and something Rai hopes to continue throughout the year, is a focus on providing culturally informed food options that more closely align with the tastes and preferences of the families in need.

“We had reached out and surveyed our families and staff about what kinds of foods would be most appreciated and from there, we were able to put together some options that were a little more comforting from a cultural point of view,” he explained. “That might look like the addition of things like okra, different spices or just having options that are halal or vegetarian. 

In the first week of the summer meal programs, Rai said they’ve supported over 250 families, or close to 1,000 people, as well as students attending summer school, summer programs and those from the surrounding community. Families receiving support had been referred to the program by their schools during the school year.

“That’s been huge and we’re happy to have the resources and funding to be able to continue this support through the summer now,” he said. “We also want to thank to our partners at the Surrey Fire Fighters Association and Backpack Buddies for all of their amazing support in running these programs over the summer months.”

Looking ahead, Rai said the district will also be enhancing its food offerings when the coming school year kicks off in September and will likewise look to provide continued support over the other breaks in the school year, such as winter and spring break.

“We’ll be doing our best to meet the needs and be where the needs are greatest.”