Parents' breakfast program shut down

Community initiative offered free food to students outside Perth Avenue schools

- JANET HURLEY

Parents of a Toronto public school community who have been handing out free breakfast to kids since last fall have been told to stop doing so by an adjacent Catholic school after complaints that the initiative contravened protocols and encouraged children to take food from strangers.

After hearing reports of food insecurity in their Junction Triangle neighbourhood, parents of students at Perth Avenue Junior Public School began offering egg and cheese sandwiches, oatmeal, muffins and fruit at the busy corner of Perth and Ruskin avenues every morning, rain, snow or shine. Anyone — from children to grown-ups — could take an “extra breakfast,” no questions asked.

But on May 16, St. Luigi Catholic School, which shares a building with Perth, told a volunteer there had been complaints that food was being provided to its students on school property, that the unofficial breakfast program was not abiding by board and city health standards and was potentially introducing allergens into the classrooms. The volunteer alleged the principal told her they had to move off the corner and not serve St. Luigi students anymore.

“It was an unnecessary, unkind step to take,” said Perth mom Amy Berridge, who launched the program last October.

Berridge says snacks have been healthy, protein-rich and nut-free, and were handed out on a patch of grass right beside the sidewalk.

“We are not strangers,” she added, “We have been out there for months now.”