'This must continue; this must be sustainable,' says education director

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Seven schools in the Jane and Finch area will be giving students an incentive to come to school early by feeding them breakfast every morning to start the day with full stomachs.

The Toronto Foundation for Student Success, an arms-length charity of the Toronto District School Board, launched the breakfast program at Emery Collegiate Institute on Monday as part of Feeding Toronto's Hungry Students Week proclaimed by Mayor David Miller.

"We know we have a higher level of poverty," said Karen Falconer, TDSB superintendent of the northwest region that includes Emery Collegiate, C.W. Jefferys Collegiate and Westview Centennial Secondary School.

A recent survey found nearly 70 per cent of students from the Jane and Finch area don't eat breakfast daily, and 54 per cent don't eat lunch every day.

With Sprott Asset Management and Canada Bread sponsoring the universal breakfast program, which is the first of its kind in Ontario, about 6,000 local youth will be fed such nutritious meals as egg salad sandwiches, whole wheat pitas with cream cheese and Nutrigrain bars and apples.

"This is a $1 million program," said Falconer, noting many individual sponsors have also contributed to make the first year of this initiative possible. "People care about our part of the city."

Education Director Gerry Connelly was also in attendance at the program launch and she spoke to Emery students wearing yellow T-shirts that read Feeding Young Minds.

"This must continue," Connelly said. "This must be sustainable."

Emery Collegiate principal Glenford Duffus agreed, noting he has seen a high correlation between students' nutrition level and their ability to learn and act in a civil manner.

"A hungry teen is an angry teen," Duffus said. "This is a program that is very important to our students in this area."

Shenika Henry from Emery C.I., who helped distribute the food to her schoolmates Monday morning, admitted that she sometimes skips breakfast, which then keeps her mind off what she's studying.

"During the day, up until lunch, I feel hungry and I think about food," said the Grade 11 student.

Bai Rashid and Delano Grant from Westview Centennial visited Emery to represent their school and support the program.

"It's a pretty cool thing," Bai said. "Now I know I have breakfast waiting for me every morning."

Delano added that it's especially helpful for youth from families who really can't afford to eat every morning.�"Now this is something they can look forward to," he said.

Other schools involved in the program include Brookview Middle School, Elia Middle School, Humber Summit Middle School and Oakdale Park Middle School.