The VPCI breakfast club is an integral part of the VPCI community. Every morning, from 8:20 to 8:55 am, all students are welcome to drop by room 121 to grab a free and nutritious breakfast. From people whose families are facing food insecurity to those who may have just forgotten to eat breakfast, it’s safe to say that the breakfast club has provided many benefits to the students of VPCI.
Unfortunately, events in the past few months caused the breakfast club to shut down briefly, starting on November 23, 2023. Along with the closure of the breakfast club, PE facilities were also shut down, and no spectators were allowed to attend the home games of VPCI sports teams. The cause of these closures, according to the school, was that people were vandalizing the boys’ changeroom using food from the breakfast club. Based on eyewitness accounts, the vandalism came in the form of spilled chocolate milk and ketchup all over the Gym 1 boys’ changeroom.
According to a member of VPAC (Victoria Park Athletic Council), “the vandalism of the boys’ changeroom was only the trigger for the 2 week closure of the breakfast club and athletic events.” and there had been repeated acts of vandalism inside the school. An eyewitness account corroborates this, reporting that there had also been littering around the breakfast club itself. When asked if the school knows who the vandals were, they said that it knows the identity of “some, not all.”
Ultimately, both the breakfast club and PE facilities were reopened on December 4, 2023, and spectators could once again watch VPCI home games. However, the school emphasized that if similar acts were committed in the future, it would not hesitate to adopt similar measures.