Students smile because it's "just calming and relaxing to sit and eat"

 

When children and youth attend the Food & Friends student nutrition programs, we know that the healthy foods they receive will have a significant impact on their potential to focus and learn. But the Food & Friends programs often go beyond feeding a student a healthy meal. The environment that the programs provide is a calm, safe and welcoming place where students can relax and enjoy some great conversations with their friends and the dedicated program volunteers. 

For some children and youth, their home environment isn’t always a positive one and they really look forward to being greeted by the consistent, smiling faces of the volunteers each day. Often times this environment helps to de-escalate a child’s behaviour before their school day begins.

 One of our amazing volunteers recently asked a student why he was smiling and this was his response;

“I smile because of the delicious bagels and I like hanging out with you. Not a lot of food at home right now. Just calming and relaxing to sit and eat. Then I’m happy. If I don’t eat then I’m grumpy, I don’t do my work and I get frustrated and start yelling. I stopped coming for a while and I was getting in a lot of trouble, so I decided I should start coming back and eat breakfast again.”

We are thrilled he is coming back again as well!