'It needs to be done': Staff keep Iqaluit school breakfast program going

School staff in Iqaluit have banded togetherto ensure that students in the capital of Nunavut don't go hungrybecause of closed classrooms.

In a territory with some of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country, they're continuing to provide breakfasts to school children.

"Some kids really rely on it," said Jason Rochon, a Grade 3 to 4 student support worker at Joamie Ilinniarvik School.

"Every day,it's getting bigger and bigger."

Rochon has been helping run a breakfast program and food bank atthe school for a few years. When the decision was made on March 16 toshut down classes because of the COVID-19 pandemic, his first thought wasto start packing bags of food for kids to take home with them.

"I could just tell by the amount of food they were taking thatthey really wanted to have it," he said. "I thought, 'Well, it's
not going to last them forever.'

"Nobody was doing anything about the lack of a breakfastprogram. I just talked to my friends and we decided to do
something."

We don't want to get shutdown.- Jason Rochon, Student support worker

What they arrived at was breakfast-in-a-bag a simple meal ofcereal, milk, cheese, yogurt and a piece of fruit tucked in a paperbag to minimize the need for contact.

The first morning, they served about 180 kids. The next day, itwas 200. On Monday, it was 412 their biggest day yet. The operation has grown large enough to require its ownwarehouse. It serves people from two sites.

'It's just go, go, go'

The breakfast program serves a real need in Iqaluit. Poverty, limited employment opportunities and the high price of food that hasto be transported from the South keep families hungry.

A 2014 study found 60 per cent of children in Nunavut lived infood-insecure households. Three-quarters of children in severelyinsecure homes regularly skipped meals.

Food programs are a feature of all Iqaluit schools, open to allstudents so none are singled out for needing them.

All the breakfast program workers are volunteers. Rochon saideach bag costs about five dollars.

The money comes from wherever he can find it. Friends have donated, as have people in town. The Nunavut land-claimsorganization has promised $25,000.

They even received $6,000 from people in Greenland who had sentthe money to help with food security issues when Iqaluit's biggestgrocery store burned down last year.

Right now, Rochon said, there's enough money to keep the programgoing until April 20.

"If the school closures are extended, I'm going to need to look for funds. If I've got funds, I'm happy to feed people because itneeds to be done."

The food comes from the South, ordered through a local grocerystore.

As of yet, Nunavut has no confirmed COVID-19 cases. Still, workersat the breakfast program are careful. Everyone wears gloves, peopleline up two metres apart and only one member from each family canattend.

The protocol has been approved by health officials, Rochon said.

"People have been very respectful. We don't want to get shutdown."

The need is great, he said. On Monday, crews handed out 200 bags of food in the first 20 minutes.

"As soon as 9 a.m.hits, we're just swamped," he said."It's just go, go, go."

"I think everybody in town knows that the little kids need food and they rely on our breakfast programs."