We all know how important it is for children to have breakfast every morning. It is a proven fact that breakfast, especially for children, is essential to learning, behaviour control, social development, and life-long health. Unfortunately, there are many children that arrive at school, hungry, each day and unable to concentrate. The “Breakfast for Kids” program is offered to ensure that children and youth are provided with healthy food vital to their physical and emotional development. Right now, there are six local snack programs in Caledon schools and through the “Breakfast of Champions” event, the program hopes to support four additional schools in Caledon.

An estimated one in ten children arrives at school without any breakfast, snack, or lunch to sustain them throughout the day. The “Breakfast for Kids” student nutrition program is crucial to address this startling statistic. The program provides breakfast, snack, or lunch programs at different locations to address the problem of hungry children attending schools in the Peel Region. It is a preventative program dedicated to improving the learning capacity, health, and well-being of children. Each program is unique and tailored to suit each school’s needs and environment. There are over 200 volunteers, in 96 schools, involved in the program across Peel and approximately 7,500 children and youth are served every day.

The “Breakfast for Kids” program recognizes that addressing hunger and nutrition problems during the early stages of child development is far less expensive than the community health and educational resources required to solve the ensuing problems that result later in life. It has also been found that students who eat properly are less likely to become ill and require parental care during the day, resulting in higher employee productivity and lower rates of employee absenteeism. Furthermore, at- risk youth are more likely to stay in school and less likely to experience unemployment and homelessness.

The “Breakfast for Kids” program is currently available at the following schools: James Bolton, Ellwood Memorial, Caledon East, Robert F. Hall, Allan Drive Middle School, and Macville Public School. The immense success of the programs in these schools has inspired the “Breakfast for Kids” program to expand to four additional schools in Caledon. However, in order to do this, support is needed.

On Thursday, June 5th, “Breakfast for Kids” will be hosting a fundraising event, “Breakfast of Champions,” at the Royal Ambassador, in Caledon East. The event will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The event will prove to be a culinary extravaganza, as local Caledon chefs will prepare breakfast for guests. In addition to enjoying a spectacular breakfast, local author and education professor, Ken Weber, will be giving a keynote address. Tickets are $50 each or a table of 8 can be purchased for $350. For tickets, please call 905-603-8730 or e-mail kstronach@sympatico.ca.

I encourage you to support this fantastic event, which will bring much-needed funds to expand the “Breakfast for Kids” program to four more schools in Caledon. By supporting this outstanding program, each of us can help improve the well-being of our local children. For more information on the program, please visit www.breakfastforkids.ca.