Meet Katherine from T.A. Blakelock High School, in Oakville

Deborah from Raising My Boys had the opportunity to get to know Katherine a little bit better. She is one of our 11 Agents of Change student ambas...

Deborah from Raising My Boys had the opportunity to get to know Katherine a little bit better. She is one of our 11 Agents of Change student ambassadors who will be attending our first of its kind summit in Toronto on February 8th.

Katherine, a Grade 12 student at TA Blakelock High School in Oakville, Ontario, is leading the breakfast program at her school. A outreach trip to Kenya last year changed her. She came back and went right to her school's breakfast program to volunteer.

She says there's a lot of shock value in hearing the need for student nutrition programs, that 1 in 6 kids are going to school hungry. But Katherine would like to focus on the impact these types of programs are having on the lives of these school-aged kids. The positive steps that have been taken, and the successes that have been achieved.

Read more of her interview with Deborah here.

Katherine was also interviewed on BTV - Toronto along with Sara, another student ambassador, and Tracy Moore, our #Toonies4Tummies ambassador. 

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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.