The Breakfast Program at Hillcrest School is going very well. "We have good support from the community, ongoing from the United Way of course and then from other companies that have picked up and chimed in on different parts we need help in," Sara Pippus, Community Education Liaison. "We find that after Christmas and into the spring the kids are hungrier, which is an interesting thing. I always notice how many of them are growing quickly since Christmas and it's almost like you can see their transition phase that they've been here for a little while and you can watch them grow. It's been exciting to just really take note of that." 

"We seem to be serving a lot of kids, but also many kids who are enjoying good nutrition which is what we are keying in on this year is that. We are not just serving breakfast to kids just for the sake of that; it's really to teach them about nutrition and find their way in terms of eating good portion sizes but also eating things that are healthy for them and taking that message home with them and making it a part of their everyday life. It's exciting to see our older kids now, who have been in the program since they started in kindergarten. We have students in grade seven and eight that have been in the breakfast program their whole school life at Hillcrest, and it's it's good to see them becoming apart of it and helping serve." 

A lot of the older students will come early to help prepare and serve the breakfast to the younger children as they see the benefit they've had from the breakfast program. One of the benefits the student's gain is getting to know the volunteers who can help them when they enter the Comp or in their future with connections when they look for a job.