The hot lunch program at Courtenay Elementary officially started in March 2023 thanks to funding from the Province of BC’s Feeding Futures funding. School District 71 has been allocated $1.14 million each year for the next three years to create or expand local food programs.
The funding has allowed Courtenay Elementary School and Courtenay Elementary Community School Society (CECSS) to manage a lunch program from March 2023. The 2024/25 school year marks the second year of the program. In this unique program, Courtenay Elementary hired a Food Services Worker to prepare the meals while Courtenay Elementary Community School Society administers the program and purchases the groceries.
If you are new to the program, here is a short video to get you up to speed:
Lunch is a pay-what-you-can model designed to introduce students to new flavours, textures, and aromas. Students are regularly subjected to “taste test challenges” to compare different foods and talk about their own preferences, such as the difference between Kraft Parmesan cheese and real Parmesan, or the differences between navel and blood oranges. Lunch features over 30 different menu options and is always looking to expand its offerings to keep meals fresh and exciting. The programs are funded by a combination of Feeding Futures funding, grants, and donations.
We’ve built on our small start in 2023. Lots has happened.
We’ve done major renovations to the kitchen in adding a new dish pit (right), a dedicated hand wash (left), and more stainless steel countertops (all the stuff in between).
We also added a new piece of equipment in the Spring–a commercial oven, which allows us to bake a ton of stuff at once!
On another note, our Food Services Worker, Ms. Masako, unfortunately had to take time off in mid-April to recover from a medical procedures. But, she’ll be back in September! We wish her a speedy recovery.
Back to the survey, its purpose is to measure the level of satisfaction and interest in the program so that we can improve it.
What do you think of it? Good or bad, we would like your feedback so we can return in September with an even better program.
This survey is anonymous and does not collect or ask for any personal data.
There are three surveys, one for adults and two for students.
Survey for adults
https://forms.gle/hxZGsFsncYHKVWfHA
Surveys for students
https://forms.gle/ig44ADiCDPJaK7Yk6
A simplified survey is for grades K-2 is also available. A paper copy will be distributed in school, but feel free to do it with your child.
https://forms.gle/uMV83ksLjzCS4Ns97
Reach out to CECSS if you have any problems accessing the surveys! Thank you for your support!