From the store to the bag - Taber's Safe Haven Women's Shelter is preparing meal kits for students who are learning at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic (Photos provided by Catherine Champagne)

By Justin Goulet

Taber’s Safe Haven shelter offering meals for kids learning at home

May 12, 2021 | 10:04 AM

TABER, AB – The Safe Haven Women’s Shelter in Taber is offering relief to parents whose children are stuck learning at home.

All schools in Alberta have made the transition to online learning as the province battles surging COVID-19 case numbers.

READ MORE: Stop the Spike – Premier tightens COVID restrictions across Alberta

This has put some parents in a tricky position, as they’ve had to leave their children at home or have been left wondering what to feed their kids for lunch.

That’s where Safe Haven has stepped in. They’re offering a free lunch meals program for anyone who needs an extra helping hand.

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“We prepare lunches twice a week and deliver them twice a week, so there’s two lunches each time, which gives enough [food] for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday [and] Thursday,” said Catherine Champagne, the Executive Director at Safe Haven.

“Kids are kind of on their own for Fridays, because normally it would be a half-day anyways.”

Champagne said Safe Haven is not asking any “eligibility questions” and there are no financial requirements to be a part of the program, noting any family can sign up.

“We do have a child and youth outreach program [at Safe Haven], but they aren’t required to be clients of that program.”

Team members preparing the meal kits on Monday, May 10 (Photo provided by Catherine Champagne)

The meal kits are being prepared on Monday and Wednesday mornings, with this week being the first for the new service.

Champagne said that, “we did our first delivery [Monday, May 10], which was over 80 lunches and to be honest, the girls said that there were quite a few deliveries where it’s just kids home alone answering [the door], picking the lunches.”

The deliveries are being made safely, with all COVID-19 guidelines being followed.

Some of the items included in students’ meal kits (Photo provided by Catherine Champagne)

As for the food preparation, Save Haven has an in-shelter chef who helps prepare the kits, alongside other members of the team.

“We do have a chef in-shelter who is amazing and cooks for all of our clients, so she makes fresh-baked goods,” Champagne added.

“We put fruit [in the kits], vegetables, some chips because that’s kind of fun, and juice boxes, waters, anything specific like that, you know, kind of keeping it healthy but with a little treat in there, too.”

Champagne explained that Safe Haven’s main food supplier is the IGA in Taber. They also receive financial and food item donations from members of the community.

SERVICE AREA

Champagne said the program is not solely limited to Taber, as the team is offering the service to students outside of the town.

“Our Taber Safe Haven has quite a large service area. The closest shelters to us are Medicine Hat, Brooks and Lethbridge, so we kind of take up the space in between,” she stated.

“We have a big service area that goes down to say, Warner over to Bow Island, north of us as well, so we have quite a big service area.”

Champagne added one of her staff members has created a map system outlining the most efficient routes to take to accommodate deliveries outside of Taber.

She said the whole Safe Haven team is excited for the program to grow.

Families can reach out to Safe Haven by calling (403) 223-0483 or by visiting their website here to register for the meal service.