Chili for Children serves 27,000 meals a year

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Have you ever watched a six-year-old wrestle with a grilled cheese sandwich? He'll eat out the middle, get cheese on each cheek - then gradually work outward to the crust. Between bites, there's time to spoon in a scoop of hot vegetable soup, slurp some milk, dribbling a little on the chin. He finishes up with some slippery orange jello, wipes his sleeve across his face, beams a big toothless grin, slides off the chair, out the door and back to school . . . belly full.

"I wish programs like Chili for Children didn't have to exist," said Lisa Pratt, office manager of Regina's hot lunch program. "The need just keeps on growing for agencies like ours, and the food banks. Chili for Children started in Regina in 1985. In 1987 we fed about 3,100 children. Figures for last year showed over 27,000 meals were served from three locations. We are open three days a week at Albert Scott Community Centre, balanced with Sacred Heart Community School and the Northeast Community Centre locations. Sometimes we put on special meal days but we can't announce it or too many people would come."

Theresa Stevenson, a member of the Cowessess First Nation, modeled Regina's Chili for Children lunch program on one her young boys used when they lived in the United States, said Pratt. Stevenson used to cook the food and pay for it out of her own pocket. Then she would go out on the street and call the kids to come and eat - "We are having chili and bannock."

School kids come in droves, 150 on a slow day and up to 200 depending on how long it is before the welfare cheques come out. More startling, according to Pratt, is the increasing number of adults who come for lunch and bring their preschoolers.

"We don't turn anyone away if we have enough food," said Pratt.

The parents themselves would rather not talk about why they are at the table.

"We were just passing by and thought we would feed the kids," said one mom with a husband, brother and several children in tow.

Pratt sometimes sees teenagers who came to Chili for Children as youngsters. Now they are working at the supermarket, doing well for themselves.

"Maybe the lunches helped. You can't think when your stomach is growling," she said. "I see girls working the street near here and I stop and ask them what they are doing out there selling their bodies and when they tell me they need money to buy pampers and baby food, I know that this program is important. Kids need to eat. I tell them don't do this, come by the centre."

Elders have a special place in the program as well. There's an Elders' day of lunch and socializing and plans are in the works to include the older folks in blessing the food before the kids eat, to help them learn the importance of respect and manners.

"Over the years we have changed our menus to try to give a more balanced diet. So many Aboriginal people have diabetes. We take that into consideration when planning the meals," Pratt added.

She gratefully acknowledges the companies, organizations and individuals that donate food, money and time.

"We don't serve wieners, bologna or Kraft dinner unless it is donated. We figure the kids get enough of that at home," she said.

Mike Shavetail is a single parent with two children, ages nine and eight. Every day, for about three hours, he sets up chairs, works in the kitchen, helps cook and clean. Shavetail is one of those special people - a volunteer.

"It gives me personal satisfaction," he said. "I like to do it for the community and for the kids. I get to know them, they tell me about what is happening at school and around the neighborhood. When you are on assistance, it's tough to make the budget stretch. A place like this helps to ease the food bill and keeps you from having to use the food bank. The food that's in the house goes further."

A 19-year-old quietly admits he stopped by for old time's sake. He used to come to the program when he was in grade school.

"Most of these kids don't have anything to eat at home," hesaid. "That's the way it is, the way it always was. Things have changed for me. I grew up to be responsible and respectable and now I'm raising my daughter."

Two Grade 9 girls, who once relied on the Chili for Children program, volunteer during their noon hours because, as one remembers, "If I hadn't come here when I was a kid I would have had water for lunch; maybe a snack if the school provided one, but I would have drank water and waited for supper."