Skip to main content

Food Programs

Vedann and Pizza Bagels.jpgStrathcona Food Security Programs support our community through food access, food skills and opportunities for community connection. Our Breakfast Program provides children breakfast every school day, our Backpack Program offers fresh food boxes for local families, and our Breakfast Buddies, Community Kitchen and Food Workshops focus on food skills and community building. Learn more in this general overview of our food programs.

Breakfast Program
Our weekday Breakfast Program ensures students of Lord Strathcona Elementary (attached to our building) start their school days with a healthy breakfast. We regularly serve on average 250 breakfasts/day. That's 44,000 breakfasts during the school year. Amazing right? Each meal costs about $2.88. 

The breakfasts put out by Strathcona Community Centre’s Food Team are also unbelievably delicious. Quiche, oatmeal, breakfast burritos, french toast, smoothies and always a choice of fruit, these meals get kids excited about eating nutritious food AND coming to school.

“Food security is a basic need and also a prerequisite to student learning. The breakfast program plays an integral roll in setting up many Strathcona students for a successful day at school” - Jason Eng, Principal, Lord Strathcona Elementary

Backpack Program Food Box #4.jpg
The Backpack Program, provides food access to families each Friday for 44 weeks a year. We currently have 700 participants from 140 low income families receiving food through our weekly Backpack markets. The Backpack Program was designed to help families with supplies of food over the weekends—filling the gap when kids aren’t able to access our school-based programs. Every Friday the Strathcona Community Centre’s Backpack Program provides 135 local families with produce and staples like fresh produce, eggs, bread, tofu, and when able, yogurt and meat. Much of the food for the Backpack Program food is donated by community partners.

Food Charter
A Food Charter, a framework for the development of a centre-wide food policy, was drafted in fall 2019, followed by a campaign to gather input and feedback from the community centre membership and staff. This document was approved by the board in May 2019 and can be found here.

Help Us Provide Food To Strathcona Families - Donate Today