A program for giving school kids access to healthier foods has expanded, and has made its first deliveries in Brandon. Harvest Manitoba’s Meals2GO school program made deliveries on Thursday afternoon.
This after school nutrition program has now expanded to 15 schools across Manitoba, with Betty Gibson and King George Schools in Brandon being the 14th and 15th. They dropped off around 300 nutrition kits at each school.
“That brings the total number of kits we’re doing province-wide to 5000 every week during the school year,” said CEO Vince Barletta. “We’re really proud of this Meals2GO program. We’re taking it to more communities across Manitoba and it’s been wonderful to be able to bring it to Brandon.”
According to Barletta, Harvest Manitoba has been working in Brandon for years now through partnerships with Helping Hands Soup Kitchen and Samaritan House Ministries. This is another way for them to lend a helping hand within the city.
“Harvest is now active in almost 50 communities outside the city of Winnipeg with our various food programs,” he said. “It’s wonderful to be back in Brandon and to bring new programs here.”
These meal kits include apples, oranges, yogurts, fresh milk, granola, and oatmeal, which Barletta said helps strike a balance between things that are nutritious but also that kids will actually eat. Also included in the kits are what Barletta called “affirmation cards”.
“For a lot of kids, sadly, in addition to maybe not having very good food at home all the time, a lot of them maybe don’t have a kind word at home either,” he explained. “Making sure we do that for all of these meal kits, and do it every week, is a very exciting thing.”
The Meals2Go program had been active for seven years in both Winnipeg and OCN, and Barletta said he’s gotten a sense of not only how appreciated it is but how much good it’s actually doing.
“When we see the kids come out and help us unload the truck, make sure those meal kits get distributed to all the students, it always puts a smile on people’s faces,” he said. “The reality is, making sure that kids have good nutritious food week in and week out for the weekend so they’re coming back to school on Monday ready to learn, it’s important and we’ve seen the impact already.”
