Nourishing the Body, Mind, and Soul

“…come in and see the joy in the schools where through nutrition community is built”

By Aliya Khawari

I’m the lead of a mighty team of five. Being a mother and being somebody who comes from a very persecuted background—people who look like me get killed in my native country for being a minority in every sense of the word—I don’t take the privilege of this work for granted. That’s what makes this organization so important to me.

What I love most about our work is that we don’t ask anybody to prove their need. If little Johnny comes to school hungry and has to go to the principal’s office to get food, and another child is standing outside watching him, that’s stigma on top of stigma. You’re already taking away from a kid who is already struggling.

With a universal program, Johnny and Betty can sit down together at the same table and enjoy the food. That’s the power of community. Yes, it increases our cost, but it builds community, its inclusive and everyone’s dignity is holy. I’ve worked in the sector long enough to know that when you’re trying to reduce system abuse and doing your due diligence, unintentionally you’re still stigmatizing people who already need the support. You punish the 95% to fish out the 5%.

Right now, we serve 163 schools and counting. That’s about 97,000 students from JK to Grade 12, plus alternative education kids—the most vulnerable that we don’t leave behind. That mission matters.

What I want to see next is no schools on our wait list. When I came on board 16 months ago, my vision was that no school would be on our wait list longer than a year. In that time, we’ve added 11 schools, which is a record and very proud to have done so. Nothing pains me more than when schools reach out wanting a program and I can’t promise financial sustainability.

I’ve pushed hard for corporate sponsorship. Halton has a bustling economy, so why can’t local businesses support the schools in the same postal codes where they do business? I’m very proud that four corporations have come on board (and more that we are in talks with right now) and taken up the student nutrition program cost, or part of it, of one of the schools each. Student nutrition program costs run anywhere from $8,000 to $30,000 per year per school – based on enrollment and program type.

Food prices went up 4.3% in December alone. It doesn’t stop. Our December allocations were$604,000 for 163 schools in all four boards of Halton Region for just one quarter. So, my biggest dream is still no schools on the wait list. Right now, about 10 or 11 schools account for the 6-7% of Halton students we aren’t serving yet.

We are always working behind the scenes, and this makes us rather invisible. We don’t have a warehouse with line ups outside or trucks on the road. Our overhead is lean—13 to 14%. What I do with five staff, others do with 14 staff and an 8,000-square-foot warehouse. That invisibility makes advocacy cumbersome.

What I need from the community is connection. If you know of a business that has the heart to give back, talk to us. We will make it work.

If all those good things happen, we will make sure every that kid in school is taken care of and welcome. When tummies aren’t rumbling, learning happens and more than just bodies are nourished. Our future is fed and hope is restored.

Story curated by Phillip McAllister

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This post is part of a larger CDH Member Story Project. The intent is to share the depth of our non-profit sector, name how community can support and imagine together what is possible through the non-profit sector to ensure Halton is a health, inclusive and resilient place to live.

Are you a CDH member and want to let your story to the project. You can get started HERE.