AMHERST, N.S. – Returning home last year after 47 years living in Ontario, Doris Walton soon learned how hungry some young children in Amherst are.
Organizing a fill the tent promotion for the Amherst Food Assistance Network during a promotion at the Amherst Artisan Gallery, she issued a challenge to the Amherst area’s three elementary schools to see which school could provide the most food for the food bank.
“I was a little surprised with the response,” she said. “When the time came to deliver the food to the tent, all the schools could not take part. The reason was there just wasn't the food at home for the children to bring to this challenge.”
That’s when Walton decided she was going to make a difference and upon talking to school principals and the Chignecto-Central Regional Centre for Education she learned how tough things are for some families.
“There are a lot of families struggling,” she said. “In a lot of families, both parents are working and they’re still having a hard time making ends meet. A lot are working in minimum wage jobs and there just isn’t anything left after they pay their rent and then pay for utilities like heat and power. Something has to suffer and it’s usually food.”
Walton, a retired pharmacy technician who lived in Thunder Bay, Ont., reached to a friend who runs a food bank in Tillsonburg, Ont., for advice.
Using that advice, she spent nine months preparing the pilot project that launched in October and continued until December. While all the schools can use help, the centre for education suggested she start at West Highlands Elementary School.
“We decided to start with one school for three months,” she said.
With the end of the pilot program, volunteer Shelley Stevens said an evaluation was held with the school at which time it was decided to continue the program full-time.
“We met with vice principal Molly Little, who told us the program was very well received by the students and staff at the school,” Stevens said.
Items the students receive in their bags include peanut butter, cereal, oatmeal packets, Pop Tarts, granola bars, apple sauce, fruit cups, puddings, Jello, canned soup and pasta, crackers and Kraft Dinner as well as fresh fruit.
is provided by donations of food and money from the community.
Volunteers gather each Wednesday at the pantry, provided free of charge by the Amherst Centre Mall, to pack the bags and then transport them to the school. The students get their bags every Friday to take home with them.
“The children are so excited to receive their bags,” Walton said, adding it’s heartwarming to hear stories of how the students have embraced the program. “They are often going to the office on Fridays asking if the bags have arrived and when they get their bag, they’ll take out a piece of fruit or look inside to see what’s in it. The smiles on their faces are amazing.”
Stevens said the students get security in knowing the food is there for them and it gives them a feeling of contributing to the family.
During the pilot, 350 bags were delivered to the school and there was never a week in which organizers were short of food.
She gives Walton the credit.
“Doris has worked tirelessly for the last year getting this project off the ground and she has worked hard to bring the different groups together to make it successful,” Stevens said.
Tim Stevens, who is also the pastor of the Crossroads Community Church, said the program operates in complete anonymity. No one with the After the School Bell program knows which children receive the bags.
“The school identifies the children and contacts the parents. The school receives the 25 bags and numbers them based on which children will receive them,” he said. “We have no idea who is getting the bags.”
People can make donations at the pantry, located next to Tim Hortons at the Amherst Centre Mall, on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Gift cards and monetary donations can also be dropped off there, or through Crossroads Community Church in care of the After the School Bell Food Program. Receipts can be issued for donations of $20 and above.
For him, it’s an aspect of the community helping itself – from people coming in with donations to volunteers from area churches coming in to help fill the bags and organize and collect food.
“That’s one of the successes of the program is seeing all these groups come together to help,” he said.
Hopes are to expand the program to Spring Street Academy, possibly in September, but it depends on donations and volunteers from the community.
