Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba
191 Provencher Winnipeg, MB, Canada

One thing that hasn't changed this year is that having food available to students is priority for many schools. A few things that have changed: There are more students requiring food at school; many remote learning students are missing out on the school food they relied on; schools have decreased access to volunteers and there are increased food and packaging costs. On #givingtuesday your donation will help Manitoba students have access to food so they can learn. This basic requirement is essential in equipping students to thrive at school and set them up for future opportunities to gain education, employment and vital skills for life. Visit our website to donate!

Serving breakfast a tall order amid pandemic: "The inability to lean on student and community volunteers to prepare fresh meals, as well as a spike in COVID-19-related costs, have proven to be huge challenges for healthy meal programs" https://www.winnipegfreepress.com//school-cooks-up-new-fee

Thank you to all Manitoba teachers, administrators and support staff who do so much in the school environment, including providing school meal and snack programs!

Check out the Fall 2020 Manitoba School Counsellor Magazine, for some Food For Thought on how schools were able to adapt their meal and snack programs last spring to continue to support students and families. https://www.msca.mb.ca//22-MBSchoolCounsellor_2020_Fall_We

Join community members Charlene, Afaf & Carly each with their own unique perspectives and experiences to explore the causes and solutions for food insecurity in... Manitoba. November 26, 2pm. Click here for complete panel details and to register. http://ow.ly/oxfT50Cox6U

Thank you to École Leila North Community School for sharing some pictures of their staff in action preparing food for their breakfast and lunch program. Things may look different this year with their program adapting to ensure cohorts are separated and foods are individually packaged but the homemade foods they are able to prepare still look delicious!

Check out the new Dip Into Variety resource developed by Nüton! This resource with dip recipes and tips for feeding children can be found at the link below, plus many more helpful resources for the school environment. https://nuton.ca/program/health-professionals/

Students from École Salisbury Morse Place School were greeted this morning with a bowl of yogurt, frozen strawberries and cereal! Such a quick and easy menu item to put together. We love receiving messages from schools showing us what they have prepared for the day. Thank you for everything you do!

The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba 2019-20 Annual Report is now available. Check out our website (http://childnutritioncouncil.com/) to learn more about the Council, the programs we support and our funders and supporters.

An important read to help highlight the prevalence of food insecurity in Canada and the impact it has on individuals who struggle with limited access to food in their daily lives. https://beyondhunger.ca/page/66634/action/1

Check out our new resource: Pre-Packaged Meal and Snack Items That Meet the Manitoba School Nutrition Guidelines. Pre-packaged foods can be helpful when time and capacity is limited. They can also be a good starting point while figuring out how to navigate new and changing environments. http://childnutritioncouncil.com//Pre-Packaged-Meal-and-Sn

We are excited to announce the agenda for our upcoming Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba Online Annual Meeting on September 16th, 2020. Please RSVP by September 14th, by visiting our website at http://childnutritioncouncil.com/2020-online-annual-meeting/. The link to attend will be shared with participants prior to the meeting.

Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, Medical Officer of health, Peterborough Public Health talks about ideas for programs as they reopen that prioritize healthy school food in ways that lower the risk of virus transmission & support student health & wellbeing. https://www.healthyschoolfood.ca//why-our-kids-need-health

Minister Goertzen, Dr. Roussin and other officials will host a telephone town hall on Restoring Safe Schools in MB. To receive a call to join the discussion at 6:45 p.m. on August 18, register online at https://bit.ly/2Y2eowz. #Covid19MB

The Council is looking forward to continuing our support for Manitoba schools throughout the 2020-21 school year. Our board and staff are currently working with partners and stakeholders to prepare for the upcoming school year, so that we can provide the support that is needed for schools to continue to effectively offer nutritious meals and snacks for their students. https://www.gov.mb.ca/cov/restoring/safeschools-stage2.html

Check out this exciting upcoming event hosted by Farm to School Manitoba and the Farm and Food Discovery Centre! To learn more about Veggie Adventures 2020 visit: https://umanitoba.ca/faculti//discovery_centre/events.html

Learning about the impact of programs through their reports is a highlight of the work we do.

Thank you to the The Winnipeg Foundation for the support through these unprecedented times.

Schools across Manitoba have been working so hard these past couple months and their stories deserve to be shared. Click the link below to learn more about all the amazing initiatives going on, including stories about food and nutrition programs adapting to meet community needs.

Subscribe to Health Canadas email updates about Canadas Food Guide for excellent information and tips regarding food and nutrition. These monthly updates also include up to date information regarding COVID-19. Click here to learn more and subscribe- https://www.canada.ca//se/canada-food-guide/subscribe.html

Thank you to all the hard working staff, volunteers and students who made this unique school year a success! We were happy to be a part of the communities that came together to support students and families during these challenging times. We are looking forward to the 2020-21 school year, where we will continue to support Manitoba students and schools!

Food Matters Manitoba has created a series of short videos called Food Insecurity in Manitoba. The videos focus on Experiences, Causes and Solutions to food insecurity in Manitoba. Please take the time to watch these extremely impactful videos and share within your community. https://foodmattersmanitoba.ca/video_resources/

Manitoba Healthy Food in Schools and Nutrition for Early Learning and Child Care have developed a new cookbook with tried and true recipes, perfect for the school environment. All recipes and ideas were shared by school cafeterias, breakfast and lunch programs, canteens, and child care and early learning centres. Check it out at https://www.unlockfood.ca//A-collection-of-tried-and-true-

The University of Manitoba is conducting a research study on the experience and responses to the COVID-19 crisis among the grocery sector in Manitoba.

Amazing work by everyone involved! This initiative supported learning at home for students in many neighbourhoods across Winnipeg.

Parents, Manitoba Education would like to hear from you as they plan for the 2020-21 school year! Click the link below to complete the Parents: 2020-21 School Re-entry Survey. https://engagemb.ca//surve/school-re-entry-survey-parents

The FMS Support Staff have been working hard to ensure student welfare and learning continues. In this picture, head custodian Arnold and a team of FMS support staff get ready to deliver breakfast supplies through the nutrition program.

Today, the province announced the Home Nutrition and Learning Pilot program as part of the Manitoba Protection Plan, to support Manitobans affected by COVID-19. To learn more visit www.childnutritioncouncil.com

Announcement from Agriculture Agri-Food Canada for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund yesterday. The fund could support community and school infrastructure: "T...his second call for proposals under the program will support small and large community-led projects at facilities such as urban gardens, community kitchens, food banks, and greenhouses." Criteria for the program will be announced in upcoming days.

Manitoba Schools, please consider sharing your valuable experience for this important research.

Learn how Seine River School Division schools adapted their meal programs during class closure in this Special Report. "When schools closed, more than just learning was at risk many families who rely on school-provided meal programs stood to lose important support. So all of the Divisions schools that run food programs quickly adapted their plans." http://bit.ly/2MgNvih

Staff at MacGregor Collegiate Institute created a fun and engaging way to support students during suspension of classroom learning with their Master Chef Challenge! For the month of May, packages were sent home each week with all the ingredients needed to make special recipes. Students were asked to take pictures and videos of their creations to share with students, staff and the community. Check out the schools Facebook page for more pictures and videos!

We're sorry to hear that this wonderful fundraiser will not happen in the fall, but we certainly understand the difficult decision that they had to make.

Check out the Welcome to Kindergarten Family Cookbook from The Learning Partnership. Lots of great ideas and recipes for cooking together with children!

Mackenzie Middle School staff have been working hard to support their students during suspension of classroom learning. See below for the wonderful message and pictures we received from them. Last week our team started making food hampers on Wednesday and Fridays. Last Wednesday we made fresh buns and chicken noodle soup for 180 of our students. On Friday we delivered food hampers to our families also! Yesterday we delivered tacos to our 180 students! Without your support we would not be able to help 30 families in nutritional need! Thank you! The smiles on our students faces is priceless!

"We know that we want children ready to learn everyday and part of that learning is making sure they have breakfast and are rested and are ready," Cox said. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com//student-nutrition-still

Peter Yassie Memorial School in Tadoule Lake has been working hard to send breakfast hampers home to students! Staff have been putting together hampers and hand delivering to families. This provides families essential food items and much needed connection with the school and staff.

Thank you to the generous donors who have made it possible for schools across the province to adapt their meal and snack programs, to help support students and families with learning in the home environment!

The Council loves receiving pictures and messages from schools across Manitoba, to see how they are supporting their students at this time. See below for a message we received from Alonsa School. We are so fortunate at Alonsa Community School to have the support of organizations such as the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba. This support allows us to deliver some extra goodies to our families! We miss our students and their smiling faces at our breakfast program each morning. This is no replacement, but we hope it is bringing a smile to the faces of our families at home.

Little free pantries pop up, thanks to family "A teacher at General Byng School, got the idea of putting tinned food and other staples into the Little Free Library boxes in place of free books." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com//Little-free-pantries-po

Check out this amazing video highlighting the work schools across the province are doing to support students at this time, including ensuring regular access to nourishment through adapted breakfast, snack and lunch programs. Keep up the great work Manitoba!

The University of Manitoba and the Childrens Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, are conducting a study that looks to estimate the family costs of food allergy in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Families with and without food allergies are asked to complete the online questionnaire (see link below) to assist with this important research. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/D2HZNNX (English)... https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZCY9YTS (Français) See more

École Salisbury Morse Place School is making sure that all families impacted by Covid-19 have the nutritional support they need at this time. They currently have 37 families picking up grocery hampers every Thursday!

Schools all over the province are working hard to ensure their students have the nutrition they require to learn at home. Thank you to the Minegoziibe Anishinabe School staff for sharing what they are doing!

Staff at Lowe Farm School are delivering bi-weekly food hampers for all families who have indicated they would like to receive it. This week included frozen fruit smoothies, hard boiled eggs, fruit, vegetables, cheese, and whole grain crackers, cereal and bagels.

Thank you Victor Mager School for this nutritious and delicious bannock recipe! This high protein and fibre bannock will keep you fuelled for a full day of learning at home. There is also lots of ways to make it your own and try different flavours. The recipe can also easily be cut in half for smaller portions. Enjoy!

Schools across Manitoba are continuing to support students while they are learning at home. Many schools are providing food in alternative ways such as food hampers. The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba is proud to work with schools and provide support for all the work they are doing! If you would like to make a donation, we can help connect you with a school program providing food in your local area. https://portageonline.com//fort-la-reine-school-offers-ham