K’alemi Dene School stands in the centre of Ndilo, a tiny community of about 200 aboriginal people on the outskirts of Yellowknife. It’s more than merely a symbolic location. The school, which teaches 86 children from kindergarten to Grade 10, is the heart of the community: a place where residents gather and celebrate and where kids are cared for and shown they have a future. It’s also a place where a school food program has made a profound difference.
Fruit for fuel
The school has a morning snack and lunch program and offers breakfast to kids who are hungry when they arrive in the morning. “They know they don’t have to ever feel embarrassed,” says principal Angela James, a Métis raised in Manitoba who has lived in this community for 30 years.
Each day at 10:30 a.m., children eagerly await the arrival of a big plate filled with bannock (an aboriginal bread), fresh fruit and dry caribou meat. “There are some fruits that are their favourites, like watermelon and pineapple. They’ll gobble up,” says Angela, adding that many families can’t afford to buy fruit for their kids to eat at home.
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