Plum Coulee School’s kitchen is getting a long overdue upgrade thanks to support from Access Credit Union.
The K-8 school is one of 10 Manitoba schools announced as recipients of the 2025 Focused Funding Grant from the financial institution, which was focused this year on projects that enhance wellness and nutrition programs for students.
Plum Coulee School’s dreams for its aging kitchen fit the bill, and they are receiving $25,000 to make them happen.
The kitchen was built back in the 1970s, and while they’ve redone the retro countertops in the years since, the aging appliances are very much in need of replacement, shares principal Mary Eberling-Penner.
“Our hope was to purchase some new kitchen appliances as well as some utensils just to make it more feasible for us to provide breakfast and snacks for our students,” she says.
They’ll be getting a new fridge, a freezer, adding a range hood for the stove, a dishwasher—the works.
“And then the utensils—everything you can imagine, right from knives, cutting boards to some smaller appliances, like a couple of good blenders so that we could provide breakfast smoothies,” says Eberling-Penner, sharing that they hope to have it all done by Christmas.
Commercial-grade goods come with a hefty price tag—the school found that out last year when it purchased a much-needed conveyor toaster and it came in at over $1,400—but the devices not only hold up better than household-grade ones but also ensure a much more smoother breakfast-making process as staff work to feed dozens of kids every single day.
“That’s how it suddenly adds up to be $25,000, when you think in terms of commercial use,” Eberling-Penner says, noting there’s also some installation costs that will be incurred when it comes to the necessary plumbing and cabinetry changes to make the new appliances fit.
The grant from Access CU will cover the costs completely. Without that support, these purchases would likely be years away from happening, if at all.
“We would have probably continued with what we’re doing now, which is basically pick-up-and-go fruit and toast,” says Eberling-Penner. “Our hope is that now maybe we can add some additional protein-based things.”
The school has 250 students, all of whom have access to the morning breakfast program.
“Breakfast is set up in the centre of the hallway in our school, and any student can go and pick something up,” explains Eberling-Penner. “And then the fruit and then sometimes even if there’s leftover toast—leftovers that are not needed to be refrigerated—they’ll stay out until morning recess and kids can pick them up for their morning snack if they’re still hungry.”
The school has several local donors helping them obtain food and also partners with Maple Manor.
“There are two ladies there who work in the kitchen, so they have their food handler’s [certification] and it’s an approved kitchen, and they bake all our muffins for us,” Eberling-Penner says. “We provide the ingredients, but they provide the manpower.”
The school has had easy-to-grab food available for hungry kids for years now, but was able to expand to offer items daily to everyone last year thanks to funding from the province.
It’s an essential service, Eberling-Penner stresses.
“There’s a variety of reasons” a child might show up to school hungry—from financial hardship to simply a rushed morning that left them with little time to grab something to eat, she points out. “No child that feels that they’ve been rushed or are hungry because the fridge was empty is in a place where they’re ready to learn.”
On any given day, between 30-50 per cent of the student body grabs something from the breakfast line, she says, so there’s no stigma for doing so, no matter what the reason.
Eberling-Penner sends thanks out to Access CU for its generosity.
“It’s an awesome opportunity to have such a large grant that will support a project that is of substance and meaning,” she says. “We’re a small school. We’re not one of those schools that has a huge budget that can just arbitrarily put a bunch of money into kitchen appliances, so this is a big deal for us.”
Other schools benefiting from this funding include those in Blumenort, Dominion City, Elie, Eriksdale, Oakbank, Selkirk, and Winnipeg.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with local schools and contribute to their nutritional programming,” said Curt Letkeman, Access CU board chair. “Supporting the health and well-being of students is a meaningful investment in their potential and our shared future.”
Applications for the 2026 Focused Funding Grant will be available early next year. Access CU notes that the grant will have a new focus annually to target a variety of community needs.
