CALGARY -- A pair of Calgary teachers are not only filling the heads of their students. They're filling the stomachs of hundreds of members of their Bowness community as well.
Teachers Megan Dobchuk-Land and Tanya Bonham have been feeding kids and their families since the start of the pandemic but want to carry the program on through the summer months.
“We’re 175 to 200 lunches a day,” said Dobchuk-Land. “The need is only growing, we’re seeing new faces, we’re hearing new stories.”
In order to pay for those lunches, they launched a GoFundMe page for the Bowness Food Network's Free Lunch Program. So far, they’ve raised $10,000 of their $25,000 goal.
When schools closed their doors in March the teachers immediately thought of the 150 kids taking part in the breakfast and lunch program at Bowcroft Elementary School in Bowness.
“Its a very socio-economically diverse community,” said Dobchuk-Land. “You have people at the upper end of the income scale and you have people with no consistent income.”
The teachers turned to Calgary’s food community and immediately got support from a restaurant that provided 50 lunches. A handful more joined in to help but as those eateries begin to open for business, they have to focus on paying customers. Now the women are raising money to continue the free lunch program because many families have come to rely on it.
“The interesting part of all this is lots of new families that have actually donated to other families throughout the year,” said Bonham. “They’ve lost their jobs and now they’re accessing this food.”
20 volunteers regularly help out by picking up meals and handing them out in front of the Bowness Boys and Girls Club to those in need. Armine Nielsen, who lives in Inglewood, has been driving to pick up lunches and handing them out for over two months.
“We give out four or five lunches,” said Nielsen. “We give out to the whole family as well- it’s not only for the kids but the adults get to eat.”
Kayla Zahorouski is a single mom and didn’t realize how much she relied on the school’s breakfast and lunch program until her three kids had to stay home because of the pandemic. Now she says 10-year-old Vanessa, 8-year-old Maximus and 6-year-old Zoey are grateful for the daily meal.
“It makes me feel that much more supported by the school,” said Zahorouski. “The teachers and staff there are absolutely amazing so for them to come up with something like this to support their kids, it’s amazing and it just shows how much they actually care.”
Learn more about the free lunch program and how to contribute here.
