HCCF
Left to right - Josey Guerin & James McInnis
Halton Catholic Children’s Foundation (HCCF) announced the start of its annual 24-Hour fast to raise funds for Halton students and their families in need.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to help our community,” says James McInnis – recently appointed HCCF Board Chair.
“This event motivates and brings together students, teachers, families, and partners from across our Halton Catholic District School Board community to do something that really makes a difference for our community.”
The season of Lent started on Feb. 22 – a season for prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
“Fasting will connect us to our neighbours who are in need – those who are forced to fast by their financial situation,” commented Josey Guerin, Principal of St. Gregory the Great Catholic Elementary School.
“This is our 6th year doing this annual peer-to-peer fundraising activity. We have an ambitious fundraising goal, and with the community’s support, we can meet it. As we’ve all felt in 2023 so far, the costs of living continue to rise and put an even greater strain on our families and students in need." says Marc Clare, Executive Director of HCCF.
"Every little bit we raise can make a huge difference to our students and families – for food, for personal care items, for clothing, and for the tools and access our students need to fully participate in their school activities and education.”
8.2%* of Halton’s community lives below the poverty line.
Halton Poverty Statistics
- Women (8.6%)
- Visible minorities (14.4%)
- Single mothers (19%)
- Newcomers (28.4%)
Poverty is a barrier to learning success for various reasons, but HCCF believes every child deserves the opportunity to succeed.
Poverty can create an achievement gap between students from low-income households and their peers. In addition, social exclusion, shame, anger, stigma, low self-esteem, low confidence, and loss of hope are all mental health issues related to student poverty.
Participating in or donating to the HCCF 24-Hour fast means helping to mitigate these issues for Halton Catholic School Board students and their families in need. Like a Walk-a-Thon, community members are creating/joining a team and asking friends, family & colleagues to donate to help them reach their personal fundraising goal - which will help HCDSB students in need to succeed in school.
All community members are welcome to create/join a team or donate.
Fasting isn’t just for food.
Your fast can include food, but also consider fasting from social media, electronics, or other technologies that you regularly use, fasting from driving – consider walking or taking public transportation instead, or fasting from something meaningful to you.
Registration is open now. You can donate anytime on our website.
There are lots of ways to participate!
Visit our website at 24-hour fast to get the details and information you need to participate or donate.
