Morning snack time is underway at St. Roch Catholic School in Toronto, where kids line up in orderly fashion, approaching a bin on the teacher’s desk. They grab small bags of Cheerios, juicy oranges and tubes of flavoured yogurt and sit back down at their desks to munch away.
It’s an important ritual for the young students — they say the small, free meal helps them get through their day.
“If you don’t get a snack, sometimes you may get hungry or your stomach may hurt. So it’s good that you get a snack,” said Danna Rinten, a Grade 5 student.
Other students said that a snack helped them keep up with their schoolwork and their activities or gave them nutrients if they had to leave the house without breakfast.
