School trustees expect no resistance to a Rotary club proposal to provide family dinners for underprivileged kids at NorKam secondary.

“I can’t imagine that we could conceivably think it’s a bad idea,” trustee Gerald Watson said Thursday.

Last month, Rotary Club of Kamloops (Downtown) president Christopher Seguin approached trustees about forming a partnership to strengthen school breakfast programs and start a new program using NorKam’s cafeteria.

The club proposed holding two dinners a month for the first three months and hoped to expand to more dinners alongside other programs enabling connections with employment opportunities and education.

As is customary, Sullivan took the request to his staff for further research. The resulting report will be presented to trustees during a school board meeting Monday night.

The report recommends six family dinners be held at NorKam and that NorKam’s facilities be used without charge. It also asks that four schools be recruited to assist Rotary in developing a pilot breakfast program.

District principal Bill Hamblett said assistant superintendent Karl deBruijn will make the presentation to trustees, and then the matter will be opened to discussion. 

Watson started community dinners while Rotary president. He said the dinners are fun and help those in need. There’s no reason why this won’t be the case again.

School board chairwoman Denise Harper will wait to hear from the board before making a decision, but anticipates trustees will support the idea.

Seguin hopes so. He said a survey found about 1,400 children come to school each day, impacting their behaviour and academic performance.

“For a hungry kid, the day is shot,” he said.