On Tuesday afternoon, Ontario Trillium Foundation volunteer Bill Allison and I paid a visit to Food4Kids’ Oakville location to formally congratulate them on receiving a $105,100 grant from the Foundation. This was welcome news for an organization that is focused on ensuring children who use weekday food programs do not go hungry on the weekend.
This funding will ensure that we are doing our best to eradicate youth hunger locally and throughout the province. The Food4Kids program makes sure that all the children in our community get the support they need to succeed. This is a wonderful initiative.
Over the next two years, the grant will be used by Food4Kids to hire an outreach worker to focus on increasing awareness, generating partnerships, and developing new fundraising campaigns. By building relationships with like-minded local groups, a deep pool of knowledge and experience can come together to address child hunger and poverty in Halton.
Food4Kids provides packages of healthy food for children aged 5 to 14 years with little or no access to food each weekend. Children are referred to the program by their school. Each week, healthy foods are placed in unmarked bags and delivered to schools each Friday. At the school, the food package is quietly tucked into the child’s backpack to ensure no one is aware of who needs food assistance. In Halton, there are hundreds of children who struggle for an adequate food supply, and Food4Kids is there to help.
Anyone wishing to support Food4Kids by donating or volunteering may visit the website for more information: www.food4kids.ca
A leading grant-maker in Canada, the Ontario Trillium Foundation strengthens the capacity of the voluntary sector through investments in community-based initiatives. An agency of the Government of Ontario, OTF builds healthy and vibrant communities. For more information, please contact: www.otf.ca