Helping feed hungry school children in Fort Assiniboine

WOODLANDS COUNTY - The Fort Assiniboine School Parent Society will receive a financial boost to help them put on a breakfast program at the hamlet's school — just not as much as they hoped.

On Dec.20, Woodlands County councillors approved a one-time grant of just under $12,000 to help the society fund the school's breakfast program for the remainder of the school year by a 6-1 vote. Opposed was Whitecourt Central Coun. Alan Deane.

The society first approached council at its Dec. 6 meeting, asking for just under $17,000 to reboot the school's breakfast program, which is available to all students regardless of need. 

The society noted that they hoped the funding would be a stop-gap measure until they, hopefully, receive funding through the Breakfast Club of Canada (BCC). Councillors opted to table the request for their 2024 interim budget deliberations.

Administration staff suggested three options: councillors approve a one-time grant of just over $5,000, just under $12,000, or the amount requested by the society.

Community Services Director Heather Anderson said the difference in the amounts depends on the way the cost of the program is determined.

For Option 1, she said staff used 58 cents per student or the amount that the Barrhead and District Family Community Support Services (FCSS) used when they administered the program. For Option 2, administration staff used $1 per student for their calculation based on the Fort Assiniboine Parent Society numbers, while the third option was for the organization's full ask. The first two options were based on this school year only, while the society's full ask also included the start of the next school year from September to December.

Reeve and Anselmo Coun. Dave Kusch said he supported the society's request and viewed it as a one-time ask.

"I know it's not in the wheelhouse of a municipality. Nor do I want to set a precedent and have every school with Woodlands County students ask us to help fund their breakfast program, but the Fort is limited on the number of commercial entities that can be drawn upon to help fund extra programs like this," he said.

Goose Lake Freeman River Coun. Peter Kuelken said he did have reservations and was concerned about the number of funding requests they received to help with programs outside municipalities' regular purview.

"I struggle with decisions like this," he said. "As a council, we should not pick winners and losers [from all the funding requests we receive]," he said. "We need to figure out a way to do this fairly and how to create community development comprehensively."

Kuelken then suggested that although he supported the request, they needed to include how to support community organizations, such as the Fort Assiniboine Parent Society, in their discussions on tax policy.

Earlier in the meeting, he suggested a possible levy as a potential solution.

"That way, we don't have community groups constantly coming to [council] as beggars," he said, adding the real issue is the continual downloading of responsibilities to municipalities from the province.

He also singled out the Pembina Hills School Division as another level of government offloading their responsibilities.

"We have an incredibly active and vibrant parent society that has raised more money for that school than you can imagine," Kuelken said. "But when the school division sees that, [the school] isn't given as much money."

Blue Ridge Coun. Bruce Prestidge asked if any funds had been set aside in the 2024 budget if they decided to approve one of the options.

CAO Gordon Frank replied that administration, anticipating council's acceptance, did add it to the 2024 operating budget.

Whitecourt West Coun. John Burrows and Whiteourt East Jeremy Wilhelm also supported contributing to the program, leaning towards Option 2 but noted the importance of it being a one-off only to the end of the school year.

Kusch agreed, saying that should not be an issue, reiterating that the society had approached the municipality for help, noting the county's contribution was meant only to be bridge funding until they received their Breakfast Club of Canada funding.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com