The Weyburn Salvation Army's School Lunch Program, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each weekday, is now completely in-house at their Fourth Street downtown location.
According to Community Ministries Director Ronza Reynard, this is due to now having their own kitchen, which just makes the most sense.
"We had to do some renovations and then we had to have the Saskatchewan Health Authority come in and do an inspection to make sure we met the codes for everything, so we worked on that over the spring and had them come in and check and everything's a go and we're doing everything the right way. So now we can work on anything we can do anything in a kitchen."
She said they are grateful for the support from the community to ensure they had a space to prepare the foods over the previous five summers.
"When we first started this back, just from when COVID was on, we were doing it at the back of the pickup truck, and since then, we've moved to different buildings and did it. We had a food truck last year. So we really wanted to work on doing it out of our own building. So we now have an approved kitchen, so we just figured if we can get more foot traffic down here at our building, so that other people can see some services that we do offer."
The program runs on a separate budget from the Food Bank, and Reynard said they have also had an overwhelming show of support from the community for sponsoring the School Lunch Program, to the point of never having the issue of not enough donors.
"People are calling us already in the spring, saying, 'Hey, I would like to help out with this summer feeding program'. So that's wonderful that it's always sponsored by somebody every day, and we have a number of groups or individuals who want to not only sponsor financially but who want to come in and help prep the food. We've been very blessed that we have people coming in every day to do all that work for us, and we get to stand here and hand them out."
"It's very important that we acknowledge those who help us do this program on a day-to-day basis. Some people may have come in and said they'll pay for three days or four days or two days or one day. But either way, every day is covered. So that's what we really appreciate."
Rather than being outside for the distribution, which is first-come, first-served, being at the Fourth Street location also benefits their staff and volunteers.
"They do get to stay in where it's cooler and not out in the elements for a full hour or longer. By the time you set up and take down, it's a long bit of time to be out in the hot sun," she noted. "Last week was quite hot. This week is quite hot, and so it's just easier for logistics to have it here, and this way, all of our stuff is in our refrigerators. Nothing is sitting out for a half an hour or anything."
The unique-to-Weyburn program hands out about 100 lunches to children each weekday, which is consistent with the numbers they've seen over the years.
"We're still seeing the same numbers. We're still seeing the same kids. They're making their way down here. Parents are bringing them in, and some of them are biking here. So we feel like it's working great, like if something comes up, we've got a kitchen here. This is a much improved way of doing it."
Reynard said if they do have leftovers, they sometimes offer them to people who are visiting their office to access the Food Bank.
"Maybe you've got kids in your family and you didn't know about our program or whatever, right? We make sure that they are taken care of and that the lunches are getting used up and stuff like that."
The lunches always include a drink, a fruit, a vegetable, and some kind of varied item, such as a sandwich, Lunchables, a pizza bun, barbecue, or even a Subway bun.
"It just depends on what we're doing. We try to mix it up to keep it not the same old, same old. And the kids like it. It's a surprise every time they come, because they don't know what we're having."
Reynard said the program doesn't run in Estevan, but they have other programs that don't run here, with a similar program going throughout the school year, and summer being the off-time.