School lunch program facing $2M shortfall amid soaring inflation rates

With the start of school just two weeks away, a program that serves nutritious meals to students is sounding the alarms.

The Breakfast Club of Canada says soaring inflation is putting a significant strain on the organization as households facing food insecurity is now a chronic issue.

The program, which feeds more than 580,000 children in over 3,500 school nutrition programs, said they expect that due to an increase in operating costs, they’ll likely end up with a significant financial shortfall of $2 million just by maintaining their current strategies.

Despite hundreds of schools currently on a waiting list, the Breakfast Club of Canada notes it won’t be able to support any more similar programs over the coming school year.

“We’re seeing an increase of 70,000 more children every morning from last year that needed to have access to one of the programs that we fund or put in place,” said Tommy Kulczyk, President and CEO of Breakfast Club of Canada.

“We are trying to ensure we can continue to be there every morning for the children already benefiting from our program.”

Kulczyk said that while they anticipated this need increase, they did not expect unprecedented cost increases.

“The inflation directly affects the price of food so on their purchasing power, gas, transport, and equipment.”

When asked if there is a risk they might have to remove some programs, Kulczyk said they try not to imagine that scenario.

“Do we have to reduce the number of foods given to every child every morning? That’s a question we’ll have to ask,” he said. “But what we’re visualizing right now is trying to be positive. And we’re trying to convey a clear message that it’s never happened.”

Kulczyk adds that those accessing these programs are different from when they first began, a lot of which has had to do with financial difficulties over the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When I started, it was people who didn’t have much revenue or were on Social Security,” said Kulczyk.

“Now, when often two people work in a household, it doesn’t mean that at the end of the week, they’re able to have enough food on the table.

“When you have a crisis, and it’s a certain community that is involved, all the other parts of the community that are surrounding them can help them, but COVID made sure that everybody had difficulty,” Kulczyk added.

According to a recent report from the University of Toronto, food insecurity has escalated since the pandemic began. Approximately 500,000 children live in a family struggling to afford the food they need, and those numbers are based on data collected in 2021 before the cost of living hit the roof.

Inflation reached a 40-year-high in June at 8.1 per cent and has slightly cooled since.

The Breakfast Club just launched their Back-to-School fundraising campaign in hopes of reducing its anticipated shortfalls.

“We’re confident because of the partners and the faithful donors we have had for years,” said Kulczyk.