Salvation Army filling the gap with lunches after schools close

It has been almost two weeks since schools in Saskatchewan closed and that has left a gap for many kids — and not just when it comes to learning.

Many kids relied on schools for a hot lunch and, with schools being closed, that lunch has gone away for many. But the Salvation Army is trying to fill that gap.

The emergency vehicle from the Haven of Hope is now showing up at three different schools in Regina every weekday to provide lunches to the community.

“We normally serve lunches in the schools every day but, obviously, the schools are closed and now parents are not working and people are at home and the finances get tight,” said David Cox, the business manager at Haven of Hope.

“So we thought we’d expand the program from just kids’ school lunches into the same communities that we deliver.”

The lunches include a sandwich, a juice box, some sort of vegetable or fruit, and a sweet treat. The truck also has day-old bread donated by the Salvation Army’s business partners that the workers give away.

Cox said the truck currently gives out about 100 lunches at every stop, but it’s getting busier as the word gets out more. Cox said people are very appreciative for the food, and told a story about one man he met who had lost his job as a paratransit driver.

“He was really concerned about what the future was going to look like — he had six kids at home. And so he came and we just gave him an armload of lunches. I think he took seven for his family back home, and he said he’d keep coming back,” said Cox.

Two of the schools at which the truck stops are where the Salvation Army was already serving lunches when classes were still open, but the third one at which it’s showing up was a request from the principal.

The truck stops every weekday at Thomson Community School at 11 a.m., McDermid Community School at noon, and Coronation Park Community School at 1 p.m.