Education: Food Security

The Schroeder Foundation’s Winnipeg arm, Terra Bay Food Services Inc., allocates $600,000 annually to operate St. John’s High School Kitchen, a vital resource providing nutritious meals to students, staff, and families. This funding covers food purchases, meal preparation, and staff salaries, ensuring the kitchen remains a cornerstone of nourishment for the school community. Students at the school are provided with a free breakfast and a free or heavily subsidized lunch. The kitchen employs six staff members, including a Head Chef, a Sous Chef, support staff, and back-office personnel. Beyond daily meals, Terra Bay’s Kitchen fosters a sense of safety and community. Meals are carefully prepared to meet nutritional standards, supporting programs like breakfast, lunch, and special event catering. This year, the Kitchen partnered with Red River College to pilot and fund an internship program for Indigenous culinary arts students, further strengthening its community impact.

In addition to supporting St. John’s Kitchen, Terra Bay Food Services Inc. funds weekly food hampers for 150 families in need. Valued at $30-$35 each, the hampers provide essential items like bread, proteins, grains, breakfast cereals, and canned goods, ensuring families can prepare nutritious, balanced meals. Designed to ease financial hardship, the hampers offer consistent support, alleviating food insecurity. Terra Bay also includes seasonal items to meet special occasions or dietary needs. This initiative enhances community well-being, fostering care, stability, and support for families in need.

For several years, The Schroeder Foundation has provided $40,000 annually to the food programs at Dufferin School and Norquay School, ensuring that students had access to nutritious meals. Additionally, it provided capital improvement funding to help enhance the facilities and infrastructure necessary to support these programs. The ongoing commitment to addressing food insecurity in local schools has been a cornerstone of our work, and the collaboration with the province and the WSD has only further strengthened our ability to make a meaningful impact.

The Schroeder Foundation, in partnership with the Province of Manitoba and the WSD, launched the Feeding the Future Fund, a dedicated initiative aimed at ensuring students facing hardships have consistent access to healthy meals. This partnership involves:

• Funding for Equipment: The Schroeder Foundation provided up to $50,000 in one-time funding to purchase necessary equipment that will enhance meal preparation and distribution facilities at the following six schools: Niji Mahkwa, Hugh John Macdonald, Isaac Newton, Isaac Brock, Strathcona, and William Whyte. The WSD will manage the procurement process, ensuring the equipment meets the necessary standards for efficient and effective food service delivery.
• Annual funding for food purchases: In addition, the Schroeder Foundation pledges $40,000 annually, for a period of four years, to fund food purchases for the following nine schools: Dufferin, Norquay, Niji Mahkwa, Hugh John Macdonald, Isaac Newton, Isaac Brock, Strathcona, William Whyte, and Pinkham. This ongoing support will directly benefit students by providing them with consistent access to nutritious meals, alleviating food insecurity and encouraging regular school attendance, which has been shown to improve overall academic performance.

The Schroeder Foundation also provides meals as part of other educational supports like Homework Club and summer programming to support nutritional needs, improve performance, and encourage regular attendance.

In 2019, recognizing the vital importance of providing students with essential nourishment, the Schroeder Foundation stepped in to cover the WSD’s Milk Subsidy Program after it was cut due to budgetary constraints. This included a contribution of up to $210,000 annually, ensuring that students had access to milk at a significantly subsidized rate.