Westview School and the Estevan Salvation Army are teaming up on a new program that is benefitting students at the school.
A lunch program sees the Salvation Army supply lunches to anywhere from 22-26 students who are from lower income families. The Salvation Army has agreed to partner with Westview for May and June, and for the entire 2021-22 school year.
“It’s an exciting program to have,” said Ronza Reynard, the director of ministry for the Salvation Army in Estevan. “It’s different. I’ve seen it done in other Salvation Armies, and thought why not in Estevan?”
The Salvation Army reached out to the different schools to see if any thought there was a need in the school for this type of program.
“We’re excited that Westview came and said ‘Yes, this is something our students could use,’ and so we’ve been in the process of making it happen.”
The program launched May 3. There were some kinks to work out, but it’s good to know that there will be a lunch ready for the students each day.
The lunches include a sandwich, along with a fruit or vegetable, a snack and a drink of some sort.
“These will be prepared every day fresh at the Salvation Army, and then they are delivered to the school every day,” said Reynard.
Westview School principal Adam Wilson said the program has worked out well for its students.
“Any time you can help families out and help students with these types of things, especially in difficult times like we have now, it’s powerful and it’s meaningful and it helps, so it’s been great so far,” said Wilson.
Westview has been running a nutrition program through the South East Cornerstone Public School Division for the past couple of years, and had families selected through that program to receive frozen meals a few times during the school year.
“We use those same families for this lunch program as well,” said Wilson.
While the school knows who the students are, the Salvation Army does not.
“We pull up with the lunches, and we drop them off at the office, and then they disperse them to the kids,” said Reynard. “A lot of that has to do with privacy. We want to be able to help the people, and the school knows who the families are. They know the children.”
There could be more students at the school who could benefit from the program as well.
Reynard believes this could take off to be something big, and include other schools besides Westview, but that won’t happen right away.
Both Reynard and Wilson said the program has been well received thus far. The families are thankful and the children are excited because they aren’t wondering about lunch.
“They know a lunch is waiting for them, and that it’s going to be there every day,” said Reynard.
The Salvation Army is looking for a couple of volunteers to help out with the program on a regular basis to prepare the sandwiches, or pack them and get them delivered.
The ministry is also looking for people who can volunteer for the food bank, because they’ve added this new program to their list of offerings.
