Meet Kaelyn, one of our #Toonies4Tummies Agents of Change!

We'd love for you to get to know one of our Agents of Change! Susan L Goldberg was deeply moved while she interviewed Kaelyn McCallum, a Grade 10 ...

We'd love for you to get to know one of our Agents of Change!

Susan L Goldberg was deeply moved while she interviewed Kaelyn McCallum, a Grade 10 student at St. Ignatius High School in Thunder Bay. They discussed the impact student nutrition and food insecurity has on kids in school today.
Kaelyn is part of a group of eleven youth ambassadors from all over Ontario who'll be in attendance at the very first Toonies for Tummies’ Agents of Change Nutrition Summit in Toronto.

Kaelyn grew up listening to her both of her parents who are teachers talk about the kids who came to school hungry without food or money to purchase food. Everyone has the right to have a proper meal so they can learn.

There, they’ll share their views with each other as well as representatives from industry, on how to collectively engage youth about the issues of food insecurity, and how to promote and advocate for school-based nutrition programs. Kaelyn will present her idea of holding a poster contest across Ontario, with school, city, regional and eventually provincial winning designs of posters highlighting issues of food insecurity to raise awareness.
http://www.susanlgoldberg.com/blog

We look forward to hearing Kaelyn give her presentation live on February 8th.

In the meantime, we invite you to read Susan and Kaelyn's interview in full.

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We are so grateful to Canadians who support Toonies for Tummies during our annual store campaign and, year-round, online.

You may know on April 16th, the Federal Government confirmed plans to support student nutrition programs. Specifically, the budget has announced the creation of a National School Food Program, which will provide $1 billion over five years to Employment and Social Development Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and Indigenous Services Canada, starting in 2024‑25.

You may wonder what does this government funding mean specific to the need and our efforts to fundraise?

Without a doubt, we continue to need your support. While many student nutrition program leaders are encouraged by the incremental government support, many have taken to the news and social media to confirm even with this support, funding gaps will persist.

The Grocery Foundation's Vision, that no Canadian child goes to school hungry, remains fully intact. Our work continues and remains vital to support hungry children through their school’s student nutrition program. There is no change whatsoever in our focus, our mission, or our reliance on your support.

The programs we help fund are universal in nature. That means all children who require a healthy meal have access. Those on the front lines of these programs affirm their positive impact and positive halo beyond the day’s nutrition, from attendance, behaviours to the school community and mental health. The programs you help fund also support foundational nutrition knowledge and social skill building, as many programs include mechanisms for student involvement in menu planning, food preparation and serving of food to peers.

Thank you for choosing to support hungry children in your community, nourishing their health, well-being, academic success while fostering their school community. With your continued support, we will continue to help dreams take flight and nourish over 3,000 programs and neighbourhoods, yours among them.