Meet Sawizie from Fort Erie Secondary School, one of our #AOCsummit students!

This past week Joann from "Women in Real Life", had the good fortune of interviewing Swaizie, a SSTC (Specialized School To Community program) stu...

This past week Joann from "Women in Real Life", had the good fortune of interviewing Swaizie, a SSTC (Specialized School To Community program) student in Grade 12 at Fort Erie Secondary School.

Meet Swaizie, she is the manager of her school's breakfast program. Swaizie, along with other students in the SSTC program, serve breakfast to 30 students each morning at school.

Her team is responsible for constructing the grocery list, organizing the food, and preparing the snacks served each morning. These students are learning well beyond the usual arithmetic, reading, and writing... they are learning valuable life skills.

This program helps kids get excited about food, teaches them about healthy eating, they are given the chance to consider and appreciate new healthy nutrition options.

To learn more about the unique culinary program FESS offers to their students and to the public via Ontario's only student-run restaurant, watch the video below.

Students feeding students and the community.

Swaizie hopes to inspire her peers to spread the word about the need for proper nutrition. We look forward to her presentation on Student Nutrition and the impact it has on school-aged children at the Agents of Change Summit on February 8th in Toronto.

Read Joann's full interview with Swaizie here.

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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.