Abigail Popple, RMG Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Valemount Elementary School Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) has hit a new roadblock in its efforts to expand the school's kitchen. PAC applied for a Columbia Basin Trust resident-initiated grant to fund the kitchen expansion, but on March 26, the Village Council did not approve the request on the recommendation of the Grants Adjudication Committee. I have decided that.
PAC President Leeha Johnson said the 10-by-10-foot kitchen, which includes an oven, stove, refrigerator and snack cart, is too small to prepare meals for the school's more than 60 students. He applied for a $69,000 grant to allow PAC to knock down walls, expand the kitchen, create more storage and cooking space, and install a deep freezer. The money would also have been used to buy more food for future meals.
“[The kitchen is] Our dreams for our students are really small,” Johnson told The Goat. “Eventually, we would like to provide lunch to students Monday through Friday.”
Currently, Cheri Dehnke, an Indigenous education and food service worker, prepares lunches for the students twice a month. She also stocks a PAC-funded snack cart daily, providing nutritious snacks free of charge to any student.
Dehnke said the kitchen's narrow dimensions make it difficult to prepare and store food.
“Basically, it's the same for adults and students.” [the people] It could be there,” she said. “That little kitchen has one stove and usually two big pots and one pot of soup. We make it work, but then one of the pots is on the trolley. and the other one is on the only countertop you have, so if you get a cut or something, you're in trouble.”
Aside from the lack of space, kitchen appliances aren't built for mass cooking, Dehnke and Johnson say. They say the refrigerator and freezer are too small and Dehnke needs to cook large amounts of food at once to store large quantities that can be served later.
Given the kitchen's physical constraints and lack of funding, the hot meal program is only run twice a month, meaning food insecure students are missing out on hot, nutritious meals, Johnson said. Told.
“Even if parents can only provide cheaper options for their children, if schools can provide children with access to nutrients, vitamins, and healthier foods, […] It would be nice to have something like that for children,” she said. “As a group, we can help lift up the families who are struggling the most to feed their children. I think that's what's really important. [the PAC] In other words, we are here to support and feed our children. ”
In addition, PAC works with local restaurants to collect donations to provide free hot lunches to students once a month, but that program has not had much success this year, Johnson said. Only three of the usual eight restaurants volunteered, which Johnson attributes to businesses struggling to cope with inflation.
Johnson said a lack of food storage space also makes it difficult to implement this part of the program.
“If we try to expand the program a little bit more, one refrigerator and one freezer just won’t cut it. [a lot of food],” she said. “We don't have a freezer, we don't have space.” [to store food for long periods]. Expanding your kitchen will allow for a freezer and a larger refrigerator. ”
Johnson said the council has been advocating for a larger kitchen for years. She said School District 57, which includes the Fraser-Fort George Regional School District, told council it could not fund the renovations.
The district board submitted a letter of support to City Council's grant application, explaining that it would not fund the project. However, Johnson said the grant adjudication committee informed the City Council that funding the kitchen renovation is the district's responsibility. According to CBT's grant application rules, resident-initiated grants cannot be used to pay for projects that are the responsibility of local authorities.
Johnson said other parent advisory committees have encountered similar issues when seeking funding from school districts.
“There is a school in Prince George that has a kitchen the size of an elementary school and serves about four times as many students as we do. They have been asking the school board for 20 years to expand the kitchen. “I was rejected,” she said.
Goat reached out to the District Parent Advisory Committee for more information, but received no response.
Johnson said the PAC will continue to apply for funding from various organizations next year and may consider using empty rooms within the school for additional cooking space.
“If we can get two freezers and two more refrigerators, we might be able to prepare on just one of the islands in the classroom across the street.” [from the kitchen], that’s really all you need,” she said. “My dream is to have a bigger kitchen. I think the program and that dream [bigger kitchen] is very important, but we're not going to figure it out at this point. I have a little problem right now, so I'll try to solve it. ”
