Courtenay Elementary Community School Society (CECSS) was established in September 2018 and is the community school society serving Courtenay Elementary and the community around it. Our mission is to collaborate with the school and the community to provide and engage in healthy living for children and families through care for self, care for others, and care for the world.

In March 2023, in cooperation with Courtenay Elementary School, CECSS started a true hot lunch program modeled on the Japanese school program.The program offers nutritious hot lunches made from scratch consisting of a main dish, vegetables, and fruit. During the 2023/24 school year, the program served 17,790 lunches, averaging 102 lunches served every day. Working with the school’s Youth and Family Support Worker, CECSS was able to identify and target children from families who may have a hard time paying for lunch to enroll them in the program, resulting in 50% of lunches served being subsidized.

CECSS tries to keep the barrier to participation low by offering lunches at a very low cost. Meals can be ordered online via MunchaLunch or paper order form. We also lowered the price of lunch (K-Gr. 2: $4à$2 and Gr. 3-Gr. 5: $4-$3).

To help families after school, CECSS puts out an “extras” table every Friday afternoon in front of the school. In addition to giving out extra Backpack Buddies snacks, we purchase fresh produce, such as potatoes, onions, carrots, apples, and oranges for families to take home. They can take as little or as much as they need.

This is a unique program in the school district that demonstrates that low-cost and nutritious hot lunches are doable when people with the vision, skills, and motivation are in place. It is the best lunch program in the district.

With your help, we can extend this program to make it truly universal and demonstrate to the school district, province, and federal government, that a universal hot lunch is not only good for the kids but good for society as a whole.