In March of this year, there were over 2 million visits recorded to food banks in Canada, making it the highest number in history. Thirty-three per cent of those visits were from children. These numbers, gathered from Food Banks Canada, represent a 90 per cent increase from 2019.
Food4Kids Halton is working tirelessly on the local level to combat the growing problem of food insecurity. The local non-profit provides food to over 1,100 children every weekend across the Halton region.
The organization ensures that children who rely on school nutrition programs Monday through Friday will still be able to receive food over the weekends.
“We have hundreds of amazing volunteers that pack the food bags for the kids,” said Jennifer Sully-Ferraro, executive director of Food4Kids Halton. “We deliver the bags to local schools and the administrators discreetly place the bags into the children’s backpacks. We also make sure each bag meets allergy or cultural needs.”
Each of the food bags contain 12-15 items and always include fruit and vegetables, proteins, grains and other healthy snacks.
“We have a very ambitious goal. We hope to see no child go hungry in Halton,” Sully-Ferraro shared. “Our goal is to continue to run our program without a waitlist, but it’s challenging because we need to fundraise more.”
Food4Kids Halton relies entirely on community donations as it doesn’t receive any government funding.
“It’s the generosity of the community that funds the program,” Sully-Ferraro said. “People are facing tough times right now. We have people come to us that have never needed this kind of help before.”
Sully-Ferraro talks about a local family that needed support but was having a hard time accepting the help. But when the family’s mother received the bags of food, she was so grateful that she started crying.
“Stories like this are encouraging and speak to the far reaching impact of our program,” Sully-Ferraro said.
If you are interested in donating, you can visit the Food4Kids Halton website here. Additionally, spots are always open for volunteer drivers to deliver food bags.
“If people want to connect with us, they can feel free to reach out. We are always happy to chat,” Sully-Ferraro added. “The food is important but it’s not just about the food - it’s knowing that the community cares. Getting a bag of food is like getting a big hug.”
This story originally appeared in Oakville News' sister site Burlington Today. Burlington Today is proud to make a difference in our community by highlighting extraordinary individuals and organizations with this Cares feature, a foundational piece of our BurlingtonToday Cares Program.
The Burlington Today Cares team's mission is to create meaningful change in Burlington and Halton - and inspire others to do the same.