Board of Directors:

Jean Coleman—President

Heather Stevenson– Vice President

Bonnie Baron-Williams—Treasurer

Morgan McKellar—Secretary

Dianne Digness—Board Member

Larry Neufeld— Board Member

Staff:

Lin Gennutt—General Manager

Linda Brown—Food Service Coordinator

Dorothy Payne—Cook

Happy Holidays! Christmas is just around the corner and 2016 is coming to a close. That makes it a

perfect time to extend a sincere thank you to all of the volunteers who work so tire-

lessly to prepare the cookies, muffins, trail mix and hot lunches. Without you we

could not continue and for that we are eternally grateful. A huge thank you to every-

one who has contributed financially or In-Kind to us this year, whether it is corporate,

private or grants, every dollar we receive is appreciated and goes directly to the cost of

feeding hungry children. I would especially like to thank my staff, Linda Brown and

Dorothy Payne for the their hard work and dedication, you are the best, and to my

Board for their support and assistance all year. Thank you to REACH, City of Regi-

na, Cooperators, Regina Public Schools and Regina Food Bank for your continued

support, we are fortunate to have great partners. I would like to take this time to wish

everyone the very best of the Season, with good fortune, good health, time with fami-

ly and friends, and all the best in the coming year.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

-Lin Gennutt, General Manager

Season’s Greetings

Regina Food For Learning P.O. Box 3524 Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3J8 306-565-8632 rffl@accesscomm.ca www.reginafoodforlearning.com Facebook.com/ReginaFoodForLearning Twitter@RFFLyqr

December 2016

Unifor Local 1 - 5

United Way

St. James United Church

Optimist Club of Regina

Can Union of Postal

Workers

Sask Gaming/Tourism Regina

WinWin Garage Sales

Downtowners Optimists

ISC - Customer Service

Bayer Crop Science

Kramer Foundation

Community Initiatives Fund

Soup Sistas

100 Women Who Care

The many private donors

who gave so generously.

Thank you!

The Schools We Serve

Balfour Shirley Schneider

Support Centre

Receives lunch for 100 students 3

days per week.

Judge Bryant School

Receives 10 breakfasts and 15

lunches 5 days per week.

Campus Regina Public

Receives lunch for 50 students 5

days per week.

Core Ritchie After School

Program

Receives 40 snacks 5 days per

week.

Dr. George Ferguson School

Receives 300 snacks 2 days per

week.

Glen Elm Community School

Receives 300 snacks 5 days per

week.

H.E.R.E. Program

Receives 30 lunches 3 days per

week.

Martin—Aboriginal Advocacy

Receives 30 lunches once a month

Thom Collegiate Student

Support Services

Receives 25 snacks 5 days per

week.

DONOR RECOGNITION

We would like to recognize the donors who have contributed to our program in 2016 Your generosity

and community spirit is admirable.

You might be interested to know that our cost for a snack in 2016 is .83,

breakfast is 1.66 and lunch is 2.49. Our totals served for this fiscal year

as of October 30 are 1,150 breakfasts, 68,247 snacks and 17,995 lunch-

es. We strive to keep our costs low by utilizing volunteers for much of

the work, we have only 3 part time paid staff, the use of our kitchen

space and office are donated by the City of Regina and REACH.

Thank you to everyone who makes this possible.

Last serving day before winter break is Dec. 21—First day back Jan. 9

Message from the Board of Directors

The end of the year seems like a time for reflection-to think about all we have been given, and how to give back. The Board Members of Regina Food for Learning remain committed to doing what we can to alleviate

the effects of hunger in our schools. We are assured by the staff at our schools that hunger does, indeed, exist; we believe that hunger is a barrier to learning, and, we are reassured by reports that we receive from teachers

and principals, that our efforts are making a difference. The Board is grateful for its steadfast partners and donors, and for its dedicated and hard-working staff; with

careful use of these resources, we will continue to facilitate the delivery of nutritious meals and snacks to stu-dents who need them. Thank-you, and a Joyous Season to each and every one of you!

-Board of Directors

If you would prefer a digital copy of our newsletter, email your information to Lin at:

rffl@accesscomm.ca

Board of Directors Profiles: Jean Coleman, President: Jean joined RFFL in 2007. She retired from RQHR as a Registered Dietitian in 2012. Jean was

elected as President in 2016 and works very hard to maintain the integrity of RFFL.

Heather Stevenson, Vice President: Heather worked as General Manager for RFFL for ? years and retired in ?. Heather

is a great support to our staff and Board with her many years of experience working with our organization.

Bonnie Baron-Williams, Treasurer: Bonnie joined RFFL in 2011 and has been Treasurer for 4 years. She currently works

as a Guidance Counselor for Thom Collegiate and is a valued member of our Board and mentor to staff.

Dianne Digness: Dianne joined RFFL in 2010. She currently works as Nutrition Coordinator for Thomson and Arcola

Schools. Dianne is hardworking and dedicated to RFFL, and brings a wealth of experience working with food.

Morgan McKellar, Secretary: Morgan joined RFFL in March of this year. She is a Registered Dietitian and works for

RQHR. We are fortunate to have her step up to the position of secretary so quickly after joining.

Larry Neufeld: Larry joined us in June of this year. He currently works at Canada Life and is an active fundraiser for

United Way and Kidsport as well as volunteers for Blue Dot Movement, Amnesty International, the Cathedral Village

Arts Festival and Bike Regina. He has been instrumental in the development of our Communications Committee and is

our resident guru of everything social media.

Thank you to all of our Board members who work tirelessly to ensure the continuation and smooth operation of

Regina Food For Learning.

If you are interested in joining our Board, we are recruiting new members. Call Lin at 306-565-8632,

email rffl@accesscomm.ca or message us on our Website, Facebook or Twitter.

Impact of Food Insecurity on Health and Wellbeing From: www.rqhealth.ca/The Cost of Healthy Eating in Saskatchewan 2015

Food insecurity is one of the many social factors that impacts health and wellbeing. The social factors that impact our health

are known as the social determinants of health. The impacts of food insecurity on health and wellbeing include:

Birth outcomes and maternal health; nutritional deficiencies during pregnancy and infancy affect cognition, behavior,

and productivity throughout the school years and adulthood. Food insecurity during pregnancy increases the risk of

health problems, such as gestational diabetes and birth defects.

Child and youth development; Food insecure children and youth have more behavioural, emotional, and academic prob-

lems than children and youth who are food secure. Childhood food insecurity is linked to lifelong poor health .

Chronic disease; Food insecurity results in higher rates of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, de-

pression and high blood pressure.

Mental health and emotional wellbeing; Both children and adults experience higher rates of stress, anxiety, social isola-

tion, depression and suicidal thoughts when they experience food insecurity.

The impacts of food insecurity on health and wellbeing result in higher rates of healthcare utilization and costs. This includes

increased use and cost for inpatient hospital care, emergency department visits, physician services, same day surgeries, home

care services and prescription drugs.

At the end of September we were approached by Marie Galophe, Pre-K teacher at Ma Première École about her students doing a project with Regina Food For Learning to teach and demonstrate kindness and gratitude. Together we decided that her class would construct Trail Mix bags for our program. Our part was to supply the products necessary and their part was to construct the bags. This has been a wonderful learning and collaborative experience for us all. I would like to thank Marie for reaching out and giving us this opportunity to engage in community outreach. I think we all were touched by this experience, from the students, to the parent helpers, to our staff. Below is what Marie had to say about their experience. Please take time to read it, it will touch your heart. Thank you Marie for your caring and compassion.

Who Stole from the cookie jar? It does not take long for a three-year-old to scream out “the bear!” when asked, at the end of the story, while returning to the

book’s front cover. Who stole from the cookie jar? And it does not take much longer for them to answer the next question:

Why do you think the bear stole the cookie from the cookie jar? “Because he is hungry.” And why do you think the bear is

hungry? “Because he has no money.”

So, in less than a minute, a preschooler is able to connect poverty and hunger. Then the challenge for the teacher is to intro-

duce, in a child’s mind, a human aspect for them to relate to this issue. So the last question posed, at the end of the story time,

was: What about you? Are you sometimes hungry? The uncertain silence that followed was moving because the children did

know that their experience of hunger had little to do with the hunger that led the bear to steal from the cookie jar.

Being fuzzy around snack time or crying because the snacks brought to school were unsatisfactory is not the same as having no

food at all. So, the children were reluctant to answer because they were aware of the difference. And there was the time to tell

them that, indeed, little do they know about hunger, luckily, but also that is was not the case across the board in Canada, even in

Regina, Saskatchewan.

So Ma Première École Preschool reached out to Lin Gennutt, Regina Food for Learning General Manager and, with her kind,

patient help, set up an activity for the preschoolers to develop an attitude of gratitude, involving giving back. We decided that

the children would assemble breakfast bags that would then be distributed to other preschoolers, benefiting from Regina Food

Learning Program in our community.

Well, let me tell you that it was no piece of cake, so to speak! Worse! What a hassle for the children and the parents who

volunteered to support us! Keeping their hands clean, refraining from testing the food or touching their nose, having to wash

their hands again after they did so, and again...and again. Having to throw their bag away because the sneezed on it and wash-

ing their hands again after they cried because we had to throw the bag away. Counting pieces of banana, getting it wrong, cor-

recting the number of pieces, smiling proudly, screaming at their neighbour who got the number wrong again. Avoiding spill-

ing popcorn all over the table, but stepping merrily on it because it makes a funny sound. Being told that this was a waste of

food, and eventually crying from feeling bad. Wanting to take the bag home, listening full of disbelief that the bag was not for

them, being lectured by a fellow student that the bag was for a kid who is hungry. Complaining of being hungry themselves,

and crying a bit more. Leaving the classroom in a huge mess.

Yes, all of that, multiplied by the number of children involved, multiplied by the number of bags we prepared. But, amidst the

chaos and the cries, the crumbs and the fuzz, here we were: adults working even harder than our children to clean up the tables

and prepare the ingredients, and helping each and every one of them to accomplish their task: counting pretzels, measuring

seeds, mixing cereals, sorting happy colours to decorate the tags, cutting tags, tying the tags, sweeping the floor, cleaning up

again.

It is I, the teacher, but way more important, it is the parents coming to the classroom, giving their time, their energy, being

around, bravely, among the noisy crowd of three and four year olds. Through their parents’ service, it seems to me that the

children were learning about dignity because they witnessed grown-ups being put in a humble, uncertain position regarding

how to play their part in the classroom dynamic or follow the recipe properly, and yet, keeping on.

We will never stress enough how much we must embody what we wish to teach. Regina Food For Learning gave all of us, at

Ma Premiere Ecole preschool, a chance to come together as a community and embody service for our children to learn that

more than what we give, it is the courage to give that matters. The children were impressed by us serving them and it gave

them the stamina to keep up with the hard work.

Were our breakfast bags perfect? No! Did we get all our parents to come and volunteer? No. Did we reach our objective of

one hundred bags? No. Did, we adults put on a sweat to make the happen? Yes. Did the students have the courage to go

through the process even though there was little entertainment and lots of effort to make? Absolutely. Will we do it again? Of

course!

Thank you Regina Food For Learning, for giving us such a beautiful learning experience. Thank you to La Première École

Preschool students and parents, who make the community service possible and empowering for all of us.

Marie Galophe, Ph.D., Preschool Teacher, La Première École

Ma Première École Pre-K Learn About Giving and Kindness

Support Regina Food For Learning Together we can ensure that no child goes to school on an empty stomach

es, I ish to suppo t egina Food fo Lea ning Inc. nclosed is my tax c editable donation of $ ____________

Yes, I wish to support meals for one child: 1 week ($25) 1 month ($100) $1 year ($1000)

Yes, I wish to volunteer for Regina Food for Learning Inc.

ame: ___________________________________________________________________________

dd ess: __________________________________________________________________________

ostal Code: _______________________________________________________________________

elephone: ________________________________________________________________________

Please make cheques payable to Regina Food for Learning .

Donations via credit card and PayPal can be made by clicking the “Donate” on locat-ed on the home page of our website, r or ar om

(One time or monthly donations can be made through our website)

ORANGE-CRANBERRY SAUCE From: www.wholefoodsmarket.com

Combine sugar, 1/2 cup orange juice in a medium sauce-pan. Bring to a boil and add cranberries. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently 10 minutes or until cranber-ries pop, stirring occasionally. Stir in orange zest cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

1 (12-ounce) package fresh or frozen cranberries

1 tablespoon grated orange rind (zest)

CLASSIC CARAMEL CORN From: www.allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray 4 quarts popped popcorn 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup Corn Syrup 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract Nuts to taste (optional) Directions: Spray large shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Add popcorn and place in preheated 250◦ F oven while preparing caramel. Mix brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 5 minutes without stirring. Re-move from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla; mix well. Pour syrup over warm popcorn, stirring to coat evenly. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and spread on foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cool; break apart. Store in tightly covered container.

Great for Giving!

Tips for

Surviving

The Holidays

Give back. The holiday season is a great time to give back to

those who are less fortunate.

Bake Bake Bake! If you haven’t already started your Christ-

mas baking, be sure to do that right away so you don’t go all

season without your favorite Christmas goodies.

Start shopping now! Make sure to request a gift receipt!!

Take time to enjoy the holidays and the quiet break from

work (if you get one!)

Shop online! Avoid the stress of busy parking lots, malls and

stores

Give the gift of time instead of money. Spend less time in the

stores this Christmas and more time with those you love

Practice “Toy In, Toy Out.” Before a new round of goodies

enter your house, have your kids de-clutter their rooms.

Suggest a Secret Santa. Rather than the stress of buying for

everyone, implement a family draw

Exercise! This can be really helpful for managing the holi-

days. take time to walk, ski, skate, do yoga, and so on

For more information check out: www.lifestrategies.ca