'The cost of food is not going down': School lunch program in Riverview in jeopardy

A boys and girls club in Riverview, New Brunswick, that provides school meal programs to hundreds of children has lost a major sponsor, and is feeling the pinch.

BGC Riverview delivers breakfasts to students in need between the ages of 5 and eleven to Riverview East School and West Riverview School.

Executive director Lynda Carey says they’ve been delivering meals to schools for over 20 years, but she’s not sure where the funding will come from this year to continue providing the service.

Carey said the number of kids who need the program has jumped from around 285 to 400.

She said the size of the schools hasn't grown, but the number of families dealing with the rising cost of living and food insecurity has.

“We have a lot of kids in a couple of the schools who are coming with no food at all. No breakfast, no lunch, and the school is working as well as we're working towards providing something for these kids to eat, but the need is becoming greater as families are still feeling this ripple effect after COVID,” said Carey.

BGC Riverview had a sponsor who provided close to 60 per cent of the funding for the program but Carey said they’ve had a “change in their vision” and will no longer be providing any funding, putting the program in jeopardy.

Notice was given in May and the club has been trying to come up with ideas to replace the funding since then.

“What we're realizing is we not only do we have to replace the funding but we have to find more as well,” she said. “That funding was what was helping the 285 children. We need to find the funding to feed 400 children.”

Carey said Greater Moncton is a giving community, and when the need is there people step up.

However, there are more and more not for profits searching for funding and there's only so much money to go around.

"When there's only so much money and more people are looking for it, it makes it harder for us get the money, to make the money we need to provide these programs. The cost of food is not going down so we're all looking to increase our budgets and to increase the money we're getting from the community to help support this,” she said.

The inflation rate and how it's affecting families is a big deal Carey said.

"We're seeing more families that are struggling to manage to get food to their children,” said Carey.

The executive director at BGC Riverview is asking people who want to help to talk to their local food banks to see what can be done.

“Every little bit does help,” said Carey. “You'd be surprised with what we can do with a dollar.”

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