School meal programs face criticism in study
Date: July 28, 1999
Time: 10:08 am
A study published in the recent Canadian Journal of Public Health cautions that some children's feeding programs may be missing the boat by trying to do too much.
"We have to step back and reflect on whether these programs are playing the hunger card too much," Dr. Lynn McIntyre told eCMAJ Today when interviewed about her study of 9 children's feeding programs in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
McIntyre, an associate professor at Dalhousie University, and her coauthors reported that even though the programs "do feed a minority of poverty-stricken children . . . the need for adequate nutritious food is neither prevented nor eliminated by these programs. Instead, feeding programs may be turning children and their families into dependent families."
The programs examined were all volunteer or charitable-type operations, and McIntyre believes that even though the benevolent ideals are laudable, the programs caused problems when they tried to expand to feed more students or to offer more than a simple, nutritious meal.
"We found these programs often act as a magnifying glass in that everybody in a community knows who should be there and who shouldn't be," said McIntyre. "When a child from a family that is better off is standing in line next to one who really needs help, volunteers feel they are being taken advantage of."
Of the 9 programs she studied, McIntyre found 2 that essentially functioned as intended and did not stigmatize the students who participated. The recipe for success, she said, is to keep things simple.
"The best way to operate seems to be have a single purpose and to work at that purpose," she said. "Successful programs offer a simple breakfast to hungry kids without trying to bring in more people or to expand to offer more elaborate meals."
McIntyre said institutionalized programs that operate in provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia have an advantage because they have staff and dedicated funding from governments and school boards. These programs do not have to continually justify their existence by feeding more kids or doing more things, she added.
 |
Send a letter to the editor Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction |
