October is a special month for many reasons, whether it be the autumn leaves changing colours or because of Halloween. However, for many students across Fredericton, the month is notable because of Student Hunger Month.
Every October, the Fredericton Community Kitchens raises awareness for food insecurity among students by hosting various events, such as a community-wide food drive, a Fredericton Community Kitchens dinner and their initiative to fill six school buses with donated non-perishable food.
Executive Director Cassandra LeBlanc created the campaign nearly three years ago. She said, since New Brunswick does not have a provincial school food program, the Fredericton Community Kitchens fill in the gaps until the province improves the state of student hunger.
“I think that’s what makes the difference is that it’s really about change,” said LeBlanc. “And it’s really about working hard to make that change happen.”
According to their website, 250 to 350 students in 18 schools around Fredericton need lunches every day, which is why almost 10 years ago they started their Student Hunger Program. Further, a 2022 Food Banks Canada report states that 33.2 per cent of food bank users in New Brunswick are children.
“To see it grow and be successful means just so much to me, because regardless of how long I work here, I just want to make sure the program gets to benefit people for years to come,” she said.
Although, like LeBlanc, head chef Louis Cosman enjoys helping the community, he wishes that his job was not necessary.
“My ultimate goal is to [not] have a job,” said Cosman, “but that’s in a perfect world where everything is butterflies and candy.”
Cosman has been head chef at the community kitchen for six years and said it is the most rewarding job he has ever had. He has served across the country to groups big and small for 40 years, but he likes helping people in his community rather than “chasing a corporate dollar to make a budget or make sure that somebody’s getting richer.”
“[Students] can’t dream about anything if they’re hungry. So we’re giving them something at least to take away the belly growls,” he said.
“Here we’re doing it to help people.”
On a daily basis, Cosman serves anywhere from 50 to 70 people in his open-concept kitchen. After he serves his food, he can watch the guests enjoy it. In his first few months at the kitchens, he received a reaction from a guest that sticks with him to this day.
“[A guest] comes up to me and he goes, ‘it tasted just like my mother used to make,’” said Cosman. “He was choked up in his speech when he was talking to me, because his mother obviously hasn’t been on planet Earth for a while and he missed her. And it reminded him of her.”
This is Cosman’s goal with his cooking at Fredericton Community Kitchens: to jog positive memories in his guests.
“You put a lot of love in your food,” he said. “We’re either going to jog a memory… or we’re gonna create a memory that, ‘I’ve never had this before and it’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten.’”
Aside from his regular guests, Cosman prepares around 1,700 sandwiches per week for the Student Hunger Program to distribute to hungry children who may not have anything to eat.
Along with this, the Fredericton Community Kitchens have a backpack program, which sends kids home on Friday with a backpack filled with enough food to sustain their entire family. Cosman estimates that 1,000 pounds of food is distributed through this program every week.
“The backpack is to take away any kind of stigma,” said Cosman, “Just another backpack. Kids don’t question backpacks.”
