- by Francesca Dobbyn

Today I want to pay tribute to Beverlee Gateman of the Ontario Student Nutrition Program – Grey-Bruce. Despite my repeated temper tantrums, she is retiring, and today is her last day.

This is typical Bev (far right), letting others lead, but should there be a need, she's right at hand. The OSNP program, otherwise known as the Breakfast Program, feeds, on average, 13,000 students a day, across Bruce Grey, and the program is in EVERY school.

Bev got the program through the pandemic, pivoting, dodging, weaving, thinking, and most importantly, putting the kids first.

If we did the math, and if all the schools had had the program for the 18 years I've worked with Bev x 194 days of learning each school year x 13,000 kids would be over 45 million meals!

So visit the OSNP page and pop a thank you on their wall, for Bev, for every apple, carrot, pancake and smile local children have received under her leadership.

If you are able, you can make a donation through this link. Choose 2 on the drop-down menu Apply Your Donation To A Fund Set Up By This Charity for OSNP Grey-Bruce and be sure to mention Bev in the message field when you make the donation.