When Mr. Rick Gosling, President of The Children’s Breakfast Clubs visited our university to deliver a lecture, love and compassion towards kids were his primary messages. For someone who has been associated with The Children’s Breakfast Clubs for a long, these two qualities come to define his work ethos and what he looks for in others.
Since 1984, The Children’s Breakfast Clubs has been serving hot, nutritious meals across several communities in Toronto. With a singular aim of giving the right nutrition to kids which can further help them grow and excel in academics. However, when one listens to Mr. Gosling, one realizes how the organization is keeping a multi-pronged approach to the breakfast club. Mr Gosling stresses on what serving ‘breakfast’ stands for. It is about nourishing the kids, ensuring they are assimilated into a community, and then taking that community further. Later in his lecture, he mentioned many such kids who were a part of the breakfast club while growing up and have now become police officers and responsible citizens of society. That’s not all, they are passing the message of kindness, down the generations.
It is needless to say a healthy diet leads to a healthy mind. When it comes to kids, basic nutrients can elevate their health and further help them in concentration and performing at school. And this is what drives The Children’s Breakfast Club to ensure that every kid is fed well and is educated well.
According to a piece titled ‘School nutrition: Support for providing healthy food and beverage choices in schools’ published on the National Library of Medicine’s website “Good nutrition is important for optimizing health, development, and academic performance”.
The need
As per the Food Bank Canada’s Hunger Count Report –
-By March 2023 almost 2 million people visited food banks across Canada denoting an increase of 32% compared to March 2022 and a 78.5 per cent increase compared to March 2019.
Ontario-specific data. Refer to the screenshot below.
Overall Canda
- “This year’s food bank usage represents a 32 percent increase compared to March 2022 and a 78.5 percent increase compared to March 2019.”
- “One-third of food bank clients are children.”
- “Since the start of the pandemic, households with children have been more likely to experience food insecurity, and there has been an increase in two-parent households with children under 18 accessing food banks—from 18.8 percent in 2019 to 21 percent in 2023.”
Source: https://foodbankscanada.ca/hungercount/overall-findings/
An actionable plan
As per The Children’s Breakfast Clubs website, they are serving 5000 meals per week and they aim to spread or accommodate up to 50 communities throughout Southern Ontario. What started off as a small breakfast club has become a mighty large group of people who care. Even though this organization aims to give a nutritious and culturally reflective breakfast to school-going kids, they aim to have far-reaching impacts such as encouraging children to develop good nutritional, behavioral, and personal hygiene habits. So it’s not just what’s being served on the plate, it’s also about what that one single serving stands for. In the longer term, as per Mr Gosling, they want to that the kids being served evolve into kind and responsible citizens. In the Toronto area specifically, their efforts range from North York to Etibicoke, where they collaborate with different schools and serve breakfast to kids.
Take for instance Tim Horton’s Smile Cookie campaign. For the 14th year in a row, Tim Horton’s franchises in Toronto have chosen to donate proceeds to The Children’s Breakfast Clubs. The aim once again is high, to feed 7000 children with the proceeds the organization receives. This further translates into involving different stakeholders in making donations in cash and kind. Even coming out for support helps.
Another major initiative is their coat drive, that’s on since 2011. This year they aim to collect. 90,000 coats for the ones who need them.
Community members coming together in support
In addition to the above-mentioned, the organization to provide holistic development and exposure to kids also organized a rail ride to Ottawa. The Honourable Greg Fergus, the 38th Speaker of the House of Commons, played host to the kids. This was further accompanied by an exciting visit with Canada’s Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau. The fact to be noted is that VIA Rail Canada arranged for their train ride to and from Ottawa.
In addition to this, many personalities have been associated with the cause too. Chef Aakash Dhall designed a special meal for the Chalkfarm Public School Grand Opening on October 18th. Zanana Akande (the first black woman elected to the Ontario legislature) spoke to The Breakfast Club’s students during their annual Ottawa trip. Personalities such as writer and speaker Dwayne Morgan have time and again shown their support for the cause.
Eye on the future
“Love and affection for kids is essential,” said Mr Gosling as he concluded his lecture. His message is supported by his aim of expanding his cause from 35 to 50 communities in Southern Toronto.
In the end, Mr Gosling concludes by saying that one can raise awareness in many ways and one of the easiest ways is to become a part of the cause and contribute in any way one can.
Joel