Elementary classroom receives grant for breakfast food

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as the saying goes. At Evergreen Elementary, thanks in part to a grant from the Alaska Native Sisterhood Association, Mikki Angerman's kindergarten class gets to start each day with a meal.

Angerman said she started preparing breakfast for her students last year as a way to help Wrangell families feed their children. She said that she saw a lot of kids come in without having eaten breakfast, either due to some financial hardships at home or from simply being too rushed in the morning to eat. From 8 to 8:30 a.m. each school day, she said, her kids get to come in and sit down for breakfast before beginning class. The meals are generally low sugar and healthy and have provided other benefits beyond keeping her kids full.

"We come in, we have community," Angerman said. "I have a kid who does dishes, so we learn responsibility and it's just a really nice way to start our day. We get to know the kids, they get to know each other and just kind of enjoy each other before our academic day starts."

Last year the meals came entirely from donations or were out of pocket. This year, however, she received a $900 grant from Wrangell nonprofit ANSA for the breakfast program. Angerman said that she's using this money to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for her kids twice a week, at least. Donations for the program from Wrangellites are still always welcome, she added. She said several people who had kids in her class, as well as some who just wanted to help out, have donated food. Anybody interested in donating should bring food to her, she said. She said anyone who wanted to donate food should bring bagels, bread, pancake or muffin mix, eggs, and any other breakfast food they can think of.

Angerman also pointed out that she was not the only one feeding her kids. Evergreen Elementary has a breakfast program, she said, but she started her own program in her classroom because some of her kids wouldn't participate because they didn't know where to go or were shy, or some families did not want to pay the extra cost of the school's breakfast program. Her program, she said, was free save for voluntary donations.

"I'm a really big advocate on kids having time to eat, having time to play, having time to get energy out, I'm a huge voice for that," she said. "I'm hoping that I can start a trend here in the school."