To view a PDF of our proposal report, please click on the link below.
Introduction
As the weeks progress and the more we succeed, the more we realize there is still a full journey ahead of us. Read below to view our weekly goals that will guide us towards completing our aims and objectives.
Weekly Objectives and Achievements
Week 1
Objectives: Meet our group, identify strengths of our group and individuals, narrow down our community project choices
Achievements:
-Came to a consensus of our top three choices for our community projects
-Identified each other’s strengths
-Took time to understand the different personalities within our group
Week 2
Objectives: Start blog post one, research about the BCC, and contact our community partner, Robin
Achievements:
-Established strategies to complete our blog posts that reflects the opinions of all team members
-Educated ourselves about the organization and created a document of questions to be answered throughout our research
– Organized a meeting with our community partner to ask questions for clarification about the organization and to gain a better understanding of our roles
– Successfully completed blog post one
Week 3
Objectives: Meet with Robin to understand how the BCC system works
Achievements:
-Met with Robin’s co-worker, Virginie, and were able to receive answers to some of our questions
– Gained a better understanding of how the organization works, such as who is buying the ingredients, who is preparing the meals, and how the funding is distributed
Week 4
Objectives: Identify our main objectives for the project proposal and discuss it with Robin
Achievements:
-Identified our aim and objectives
-Composed inquiry questions
-Identified tasks that will address our objectives
-Proposed our ideas to Robin for feedback
Week 5
Objectives: Complete the proposal. Visit a Breakfast Club.
Achievements:
-Successfully visited a Breakfast Club at Strathcona Elementary School
-Successfully tailored our objectives and tasks to best assist the Breakfast Clubs
-Completed our project proposal with approval from Robin
Week 6
Objectives:
-Start to research for bulk cooking tips and ways to involve more students in cooking
-Start composing new menu items and developing charts for nutritional and cost comparison of three essential food items
-Start thinking about items that can be added to the essential food items list
Achievements:
-Complete Blog 2
Reflections
What?
On Wednesday, February 3rd we had the opportunity to observe a Breakfast Club Program in action at Lord Strathcona Elementary. We were able to see the workers and volunteer “breakfast buddies” interact and work with the children and parents that attended the program. We also had a chance to talk with the some of the workers and the families that attended. This allowed us to become familiar with how the breakfast program functions. The Strathcona breakfast program is a model program for other schools because it has a lot of equipment, a high participation rate and a large amount of funding and donations. This enables them to run a program with an environment that is warm, inclusive and nutritionally focused. Since this program represents an ideal system, it is difficult for us to conceptualize the major challenges of programs that are less well funded.
Additionally, we had the opportunity to meet our community project BCC Contact, Robin, at our visit to Strathcona. By discussing his ideas for us and how we they aligned with our thoughts, we were able to clarify our objectives for the project. We determined our initial broad objectives through email, and eventually focused towards more specific plans that both our group and Robin agreed would be beneficial for the BCC. This marks the first important milestone of our community project as it gives us a clear direction to proceed.
So What?
By visiting a breakfast program, we were able to see who is involved, and how it functions as a whole. We observed that while the BCC focuses on providing meals for children, an effort was made to develop a sense of community as caregivers and children attended. Prior to our visit at the Breakfast club at Lord Strathcona Elementary, we assumed that the program was exclusive for children and that it was organized at a set time every morning. To our pleasant surprise, the program felt a lot more like a family gathering where parents and their children gather around tables to enjoy a hearty breakfast. The staff also interact with the program attendees and seem to cultivate strong relationships. While we realize that Lord Strathcona Elementary is an exemplary example of what the BCC aims to achieve through their programs, it gives us a better idea of what can it can accomplish within a community, and we were very impressed.
We were able to align our goals for the project with Robin’s and get a better understanding of our role to help the BCC.
What Now?
After our first hand experience seeing a breakfast program run as well as our meeting with Robin, we now have more direction for our project. With a better understanding of what tips, suggestions, and recipes will be suitable for the children and staff that are involved, we will be able to begin researching for information that will ideally be practical and useful to the BBC. We will be researching useful bulk cooking tips and ways to engage students in the food preparations steps, as well as developing new menu items that are cost effective, nutritious and appealing to students. We will also brainstorm new items that would be beneficial to include in the essential food item lists. Over the next two weeks, our group will visit Costco, Superstore, and Safeway to do a nutrition and cost analysis of different brands of bread, cereals, and yogurts. Until we actually begin our task, we will not know what obstacles we may face; however, we will be updating our blog posts to include the challenges, our actions, and the consequences that they bring.
Ernesto Siroli claims that in order to be successful, we must listen to what others’ needs are (2012). We have taken this advice and listened to Robin’s needs and requests so we can develop a plan that can help strengthen the BCC’s current breakfast programs. We are now finally able to start our work for the Breakfast Club of Canada. We will need to make our objectives a reality in order to achieve our aims. To do this, we will need to implement deadlines for our ongoing work to keep our group organized and maximize our efficiency.
Upcoming Weekly Objectives and Achievement Strategies
In the upcoming week, our aim is to address our first objective: Provide bulk cooking tips for the recipes used at the BCC. As mentioned in our proposal we will review past recipes to analyze steps and seek areas that could be expanded on. To start, we will equally divide the existing 20 recipes amongst the 5 members of our group. We will then individually research 1-2 literature sources that discuss relevant bulk cooking tips applicable to the recipes provided and create a spreadsheet with a tally of the most useful tips to form our final list. We will be identifying tips that utilize less equipment, and fewer ingredients and steps for ease of preparation. Before finalizing our list, we will collaborate as a group to ensure consistency and agreement in our findings.
Week 7
Objectives:
-Modify existing recipes and generate new ones- include smoothie recipes
-Develop recipes that can be prepared in large quantities and are not repetitive
Strategies:
-Review 20 existing recipes and modify them to comply with BCC standards: healthy, appealing, and practical with accessible and affordable ingredients
-Remove or adjust recipes and ingredients accordingly and make substitutions that have similar nutritional value
-Research online resources that suggest appropriate recipes for children
-Incorporate modified and/or new recipes into tables with recipe names, ingredients, equipment, preparation steps and tips.
Week 8
Objectives:
-Provide bulk cooking tips for the recipes used at the BCC
-Identify tips that utilize less equipment, and fewer ingredients and steps for ease of preparation
Strategies:
-Review modified and new recipes to analyze steps and seek areas that could be expanded on
-Divide the 20 recipes amongst the 5 group members for analysis
-Individually research 1-2 literature sources that discuss relevant bulk cooking tips applicable to the recipes provided
-Create an excel spreadsheet with a tally of the most useful tips from literature research
Week 9
Objectives:
-Increase student involvement in the breakfast program for both the preparation and presentation of BCC recipes.
Strategies:
-Analyze 20 BCC recipes to determine which steps should be focused on
-Refer to 1-2 literature resources per group member, looking at recipes tailored to children of varying ages focusing on the practicality, safety, and ease of preparation for the younger population
– Focus on the age groups 5-7, 7-9, 9-11 to incorporate age appropriate activities aligning with the “functioning” of the program, from set up to cleanup
-Use an excel spreadsheet to tally which recommended tips are currently used or could be incorporated into existing BCC recipes.
Week 10
Objectives:
-Extend the 11 essential food items list to 15 items with items commonly used in BCC recipes
Strategies:
-After modifying and developing new recipes, we will include the additional necessary items in a complete list by comparing each recipe and required ingredients
Week 11
Objectives:
-Create a list of top 5 brand suggestions based on nutritional value for 3 (yogurts, cereals, and whole wheat or multigrain breads) of the 15 essential food items.
-Develop a list of top 5 products with cost analysis included
Strategies:
-Visit 3 different grocery stores commonly visited by schools affiliated with the BCC – Safeway, Superstore, and Costco
-Explore available common and commercialized brands for the three food categories and collect data for price and nutritional content/tables
-Create a list of the top five products based on their nutritional value by comparing content of fibre, fat, sugar, and protein between brands
-Determine recommended products from the Health Canada website and valid nutrition web sources, which will be used in comparison with our findings
Week 12
Objectives:
-Create a functional, and engaging document that comprises all of the necessary information addressing our aim and objectives
Strategies:
-Gather all tables with collected data
-Ask Robin for guidance as to how the document should be presented
From this schedule, we can work towards our aim in a timely manner. It is expected that along the way, we will face a number of hardships and difficulties. Through effective communication, we hope to be able to express our thoughts and ideas to one another, in an effort to provide a high quality product.
References
Siroli, E. (2012, November 26). Want to help someone? Shut up and listen! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXsLtHqfdM
