Rosy cheeked and barely sweating, elementary school teacher Brent Mansfield was all smiles as he lapped the Legislature's front lawn Wednesday, Oct. 16.
To advocate for free lunches in B.C. schools, the ultramarathon runner, who teaches at Lord Roberts Elementary School in Vancouver, is calling on the province to sign the federal government's National School Food Program, which commits $200 million annually for school for food programs over the next five years.
"We have a huge opportunity right now ... for the new provincial government to sign the federal agreement to allow some of the billion dollars over five years that was committed to school food programs in Canada to flow to B.C. students this school year," he said.
This isn't the first time Mansfield has undertaken a run like this. The teacher ran 200 laps 鈥� over 92 kilometres 鈥� around Lord Roberts to call on the federal government to create a school food program before the current one existed. He ran another 200 laps around the Parliament's front lawn in Ottawa last November for the same purpose.
Along with dozens of young students, Matthew Kemshaw, the executive director of Flourish School Food Society, which provides over 1,100 scratch-cooked meals to 30 schools in the Capital Region daily, was there to cheer Mansfield on.
"It's so foundationally important for our schools, for our students to have access to these kinds of programs," he said. "Principals and teachers approach me and rave about the impact that our program is having. Principals talk about seeing less challenging behaviours from students because students are being fed. Teachers talk about how students are more focused and more engaged in the classroom. Students just talk about feeling like school is a more nourishing and caring place."
Kemshaw also served school lunches, which proved popular among the event's young attendees, as well as Mansfield, who paused his run to grab a bite, field questions from the press and meet Sonia Furstenau, the leader of the B.C. Green Party.
"When kids are well-fed, when kids feel well-taken-care-of, when they feel safe and secure, they are in the best place to learn," she said. "And if we want our kids to learn, it's really about creating that environment where they know that they're nurtured, nourished and then they can flourish."
Two hundred meal trays lined the Legislature's front steps, all of which sported punny messages from Mansfield's students about school lunches.
"Eat pasta; learn fasta," read one tray.
"Peas invest in school food," read another.
Shannon Turner, the executive director of the Public Health Association of British Columbia, spoke at the event, drawing a link between free school lunches and students' long-term health.
"It's really critical that, to achieve their full potential, children have the opportunity to be nourished in the way that supports their brain health, their socialization skills," she said. "That's where good mental health comes from, and mental health is a significant predictor of life-long health."
It took Mansfield six hours to complete the marathon, which he started at 9 a.m.
The provincial government dissolved last month in the lead up to the election on Oct. 19. Mansfield hopes the new government, whatever it looks like, will ratify the National School Food Program.
"Most countries around the world feed children at school," he said. "As a teacher, you just get it 鈥� kids need to be nourished."
