Community support helps keep a Vernon school’s breakfast club cooking.
The Vernon Professional Firefighters union donated $1,000 for the Clarence Fulton Secondary School breakfast club, and Trinity United Church — which has also donated a fridge to the program — is helping out with a food drive.
“We provide breakfast to anyone who is hungry at Fulton, from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m., five days a week,” said parent volunteer Kathy MacKay.
“Any student, teacher or parent can come in and grab some food.”
Vernon Alliance Church supports the program monthly, the Salvation Army has also contributed, a local orchard has provided apples and the club received a $3,000 grant from the Vernon-based Foord Family Foundation.
Started in December 2014 by the Vernon Community School, which operates out of Fulton, the breakfast club serves bagels, toast, cereals (hot and cold), fruit, granola, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, tea, hot chocolate and juice near Fulton’s cafeteria.
In nearly two full years of operation, the program has grown considerably.
“There is much more of a need (for the program) now,” said MacKay. “We feed about 100 kids a day.”
The program couldn’t run without the work of volunteers.
“Volunteers can be parents of students from the school or from the community,” said MacKay. “The commitment is about an hour-and-a-half every second week.”
If you’d like to help the program either as a volunteer or with a donation, contact Mackay at klmackay@shaw.ca.