Leader of student nutrition program in Sudbury says changes in the works to help those in need

The head of a student nutrition program in the Sudbury area says work is underway to feed students. Normally, students can access meal and snack programs at school, but schools are now closed until at least May, due to COVID-19.

Angele Young,the regional manager of nutrition programs in Sudbury-Manitoulin,says she and her staff have been working with school principals to identify families in need. But Young says she worries some families are slipping through the cracks.

"Because on a normal day, they're working. And possibly both parents right now have experienced a loss of income and haven't gotten their first chequesyet, if they applied for EI," she said.

"Even those who don't normally qualify for EI may be a completely different situation."

Young says they will start sending out grocery store gift cards to families who have been identified as being in need.
She adds they're working to secure more funding to send out more cards next month.

"We currently have 800 gift cards to give away for this month," Young told CBCSudbury's Morning North radiohost Markus Schwabe.

"And as of this morning there are 1,400 applications. So there is a great need for the larger communityto receive these cards. So we're just in the process of continuing to accept the applications and then we're going to ... get as many cards out to as many people as possible. Those who don't get cards this month ...will be waiting for when we get allocations for next month."

Listen to the interview here:

Young says the program normally feeds about 18,000 students across the Sudbury-Manitoulindistrict.

She says they are in the process of putting together requests to other organizations for help.

"Just yesterday we received some funds from Breakfast Clubs of Canada, who access some emergency funding through the federal government. [That will] add another hundred gift cards for this month and another hundred for next month.And we are continuing to search."