Food Depot Alimentaire will once again facilitate the school food program this year in New Brunswick.
The province confirmed to our newsroom that it has awarded a contract to the Moncton-based non-profit.
Stéphane Sirois, the organization’s executive director, said they supported 135 schools in 2023-24.
“Every two weeks, we make a delivery to them to support their breakfast programs,” Sirois told our newsroom.
“It just removes that burden of sourcing food from the teachers and the volunteers who help run these programs.”
The province would not say how many schools will be covered this year or what the value of the contract is.
A spokesperson would only say that additional details would be released “in due course.”
The 2023-24 contract for Food Depot Alimentaire was worth $2 million, the province previously announced.
Sirois said making sure students start the school day with breakfast is crucial to their overall learning.
“There’s all sorts of reasons why a student would not eat breakfast in the morning. Sometimes at home they don’t have time, their parents are not eating breakfast, they want to eat breakfast at school with their friends,” he said.
Sirois said with the recent announcement of a national school food program, he hopes students in every New Brunswick school will one day see the benefits.
“We’re ready to expand that and make it happen, but it’s up to the province to fund that,” he added.
