Fighting Hunger in Our Schools

Following the introduction by Dorothy Schan, Lena brought forward the realities of hunger within the student body of Halton.  Her video presentation had the caption, “Hunger Hurts” along with “Food for Thought.”  The concept of learning with students attending school in a malnourished state just doesn’t allow for productive learning.  It was soon realized by Lena and many others that food assistance was critical in order to assure that an optimum learning environment was utilized.  The program focuses on not only providing those children in need of food but other children being educated with regards to healthy food choices.  There are 140 programs currently in 100 schools in the Halton area.  With 484 students in the highschool program, 89% of the students managed to stay in school and complete their education at this level.  In some schools where the program exists as many as 20% of the children in the schools come from homes under the poverty line.  Often in these homes when the parent or parents are faced with paying the rent or buying food, paying the rent takes precedence over food.  In the end, Brent Paszt thanked Lena for her presentation and her increasing our awareness to other critical needs that exist in our community and applauded her and the organization in addressing these needs.