Ever delved into a perfect recipe for providing a nutritious meal that helps in holistic development?
We have found the perfect recipe at The Children’s Breakfast Club (TCBC) where a simple breakfast is fueling children’s future. Started as a single club feeding children who needed it the most and has gone on for almost 40 years now feeding school-age children from diverse communities. But there is more that the club cares about. Let us first delve into the genesis of it all.
26 Pancakes and A Purpose Is Born
The Founding president, Rick Gosling shares how 40 years back at 30 Falstaff Avenue in North York, he witnessed a 9-year-old child have 26 pancakes alone. Rick has always cared about the welfare of children and this incident led to the realization that a simple breakfast program can help in taking care of children’s needs and go on to create a positive impact in their lives and communities.
Fueling Body & Mind
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day which not only helps in fueling the body but also a healthy mind. As per statistics from Employment and Social Development Canada, 1 in 5 children in Canada are at risk of going to school hungry. A systematic review of studies done by NIH showed results that breakfast consumption when compared to skipping breakfast has a direct positive impact on cognitive functions like Attention, Memory and Executive abilities.
There are studies by NIH that also talk how the content and frequency of breakfast impact children’s learning abilities. TCBC clubs understands the impact of not having a healthy, nutritious meal every day can have on children. The clubs efforts through the Breakfast program and now recently started Lunch program is to ensure children from different communities who don’t have the resources are able to get the right nutrition. This in turn leads towards a healthy body, mind ,and help them with improved quality of life and wellbeing.
Hungry Minds and Beyond- Supporting Growth
When you genuinely care for the individuals, you want to focus on their holistic development. So does every member working and volunteering at the clubs across communities care about.
The Clubs aim to empower young minds and create positive change in the communities. The programs are designed to serve education, community, health & safety needs to enable children to reach their full potential- have a look below:
Supplies: The clubs support children with needs around their day-to-day activities like school supplies, backpacks, toys, clothes that children need to go to prom, or necessities like a warm jacket to survive the cold. It is just like bringing up your own child, you love taking care about the needs and desires of children that helps in improving their quality of life.
Skills: Getting resources to acquire hands on skills is crucial. Professional aspirations could be in any field, in any industry and at any level. The clubs are doing their bit to assist children with the resources necessary to be able to pursue their plans. The children are helped with having resources to acquire driving skills if they want to pursue a career in the Logistics/Transportation field or want to work in hospitals to assist ambulance operations or become firefighters. Be it plumbing skills or carpentry skills, the clubs are always striving to offer support.
Families: The support doesn’t just stop at the kids, a child’s mental wellbeing has largely to do with the environment at home, and TCBC cares about the children’s family. The club has supported efforts like food for pets, and flowers for seniors in nursing homes and continues to do so as I share this with you.
Sense of Giving: TCBC also empowers children to share, give and contribute to the happiness of their siblings or peers and not just receive. The act of kindness must be instilled in the children to create a circular sense of giving back to the community and supporting others and TCBC encourages children to give back to the community so even others can benefit and this cycle doesn’t stop.
The Firefighters: Communities, Volunteers and Donors
The achievements can never be the result of a single person, it is the communities, the volunteers, the companies, the individual donors and of course, the children who trust, who value the care and compassion.
Community Members and Leaders: TCBC Apron Heroes wake up early in the morning and serve hot nutritious meals to children. It is an inclusive atmosphere where children are heard, and share their desires, and diversity is celebrated. They volunteer their time and skills to ensure everything runs smoothly and effortlessly. It is the daily operations that is helping us in our moving closer towards our mission.
Volunteers: People who care about the welfare of children, genuinely offer their support to various volunteering areas like serving breakfast, bake sale, outreach activities to help hand out information about TCBC at events, assisting in smooth operations at events. The list goes on just like their desire to contribute and make a positive impact.
Donors: We have had HNI’s, Organizations, Friends & Families and Local businesses like bakeries, and grocery stores make significant contributions in cash and kind to help us fulfill the needs of children around nutritious meals, supplies, bags, clothes, resources to support skill development.
With support from our Firefighters, TCBC aims to grow to serve 50 communities and keep including more programs to benefit the needs of children.
Diversity & Celebration
The clubs believe in diversity and that means not just inclusion but also celebration. Be it festivals like Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah, and Christmas or hosting the Black History Month celebrations to draw motivation, host programs to promote fitness and healthy living amongst children like the bicycle program.
Empowering Children
TCBC also believes in working towards empowering children, encouraging them to ask questions, meet leaders who are change makers so they can understand the dynamics, and get the confidence that even they belong and have the right to dream to be one of them. TCBC includes additional programs to give exposure to children like the recent visit to the Parliament building in Ottawa where the children got to meet the Prime Minister-Justin Trudeau and also honor Zanana Akande for Black History Month!
So, a healthy meal doesn’t just fill plates, you can help in preparing children for a brighter future. Holistic development comes from every nutritious meal served, morning routines of shared laughter, every word of encouragement given, every piece of clothing that helps boost confidence, the skills acquired, and the warmth of a caring community.
You can sign up below to receive more information on areas you can contribute and make a positive impact!
Author: Ekta Gupta
Vishal Arora