Funding shortfall means Breakfast Club of Canada may face struggles when feeding children

The Breakfast Club of Canada's goal is to ensure every child is fed before going to school each day.

“We know that one in three children currently go to school hungry each day in Canada," said program coordinator Rebecca Sly.

Heading into the new school year, the national organization is forecasting a revenue shortfall of more than $2 million brought on by cost-of-living increases, transportation and food costs.

A new fundraising campaign has been launched to raise $300,000 by Oct. 30.

Sly said the situation is critical at a time when a large number of families are experiencing food insecurity.

In Nova Scotia, the Breakfast Club feeds 11,000 daily, while in New Brunswick, 5,800 are fed each day. On Prince Edward Island, 1,250 children are given food on a daily basis. Nationally, more than 580,000 children rely on the Breakfast Club for food every day.

According to Sly, corporate and private funding partners provide donations and the organization would also welcome government funding.

“We are constantly in contact with the provincial and federal governments," said Sly. "I think the long-term program plan is for a national school food program. That is everyone’s goal.”

In an email, the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development told CTV News, the province's $1.7 million School Healthy Eating Program (SHEP) is available to all students.

“The program primarily provides access to breakfast and beverage programming in schools," said spokesperson Susan Mader Zinck. "It also supports lunch programming.”

At the community level, Christ Baptist Church's food bank in Dartmouth, N.S., delivers food to 25 households every Wednesday and says the need to feed children is growing at an alarming rate.

“Between 2019 and 2022, the number of children and adolescents that we were feeding up to the age of 19, has gone up from 19 per cent to at least 33 per cent," said foodbank operator Christine Hoehne.

Shellene Becket and her daughter spent the morning stocking the Community Fridge in downtown Dartmouth.

“It is all ages and sometimes it’s the people next-door that you were not suspecting," said Becket. "We need to remember that and sometimes we don’t know who is suffering.”

The Breakfast Club of Canada is hoping more corporate partners, private donations and government funding will help reduce further suffering and food insecurity for young people in Canada.