A local school lunch program is getting a boost, thanks to fundraising efforts by South Eastman Rotary Club.

Joy Neufeld with Soup’s On recalls the very beginning of the school lunch program for Steinbach and area.

"It was just this one little girl that broke my heart one supper when she said this was the first meal she was having,” Neufeld says. “And that's when we started with offering them to take lunch at home with them. And then just one day I just thought certainly there are more children out there than the ones that come to the soup kitchen who could use a lunch.”

That happened more than 12 years ago.

Since then, Neufeld has built a good relationship with schools in the Hanover School Division and the soup kitchen is contacted whenever schools need a few lunches for students.

In many cases, parents send along any food that they can, and the schools will add items to make it a full meal.