Fight Hunger, Feed Hope & Build Healthy Futures
Together with our community, Food4Kids Waterloo Region’s mission is to provide packages of nutritious, healthy food to children ages 1-14 living with chronic hunger from severely food insecure homes throughout Waterloo Region. We provide food to children in need when they are not in school, 40 weekends of the school year, and 90 days of school breaks. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, we deliver food directly to the children, inserting highly nutritious food packages into backpacks at school before the child goes home for the weekend or delivering food boxes directly to their homes during school breaks. We currently support 1,300 children living with severe food insecurity who are referred to us by teachers and social workers in schools who see vulnerable children coming to school hungry and without daily food. We serve children of all backgrounds and cultures, including new Canadians, Indigenous People, and Black or Persons of Colour. We are one of the few local organizations that provide food that meets cultural requirements (ie. Halal), and dietary and allergy restrictions.
The Need: Food4Kids Waterloo Region is currently serving 100 of 151 elementary schools in the Region of Waterloo and we need funding to be able to support current children and add more children in need from the remaining schools. Many children successfully leave our program as they no longer need it but are continually replaced by children in need. Many children do not have access to the nourishment they require to thrive mentally, physically, or socially. School nutrition programs help during the school year but are not available during weekends and school breaks. Often children living with chronic hunger do not have a parent or guardian in their life who can help them access food banks when school is out, or the parent or guardian themselves cannot access the food bank due to hours or location, or sometimes the food received is just not enough. Consistent hunger, even just over weekends and school breaks, can set a child back for life. These are the children we serve.
How Will Funding Be Used: 94% of all funds donated go directly to the children we support by providing and purchasing/sourcing food to support current children in our program and expand into more schools in the Waterloo Region. We do not receive government funding and rely solely on generous donors like yourself, including corporations, individuals, grants, foundations, fundraising, and volunteers in our essential service delivery. We are a small but mighty team of 5 and do not have the overhead like other non-profits. I believe transparency is so important when speaking with donors as they deserve to know where their dollars are going and the impact they are making. We pride ourselves on filling the gap for our most vulnerable when they can not visit the Food Bank and in-school nutrition programs.
The average food cost to support one child in our program is $ 1,200 per year, which includes dairy, proteins, grains, vegetables, and fruits. Funds raised through our generous donors will help us support our current need and add more children to our program, by adding more schools in the Waterloo Region to our program (an estimated 4,000 children in the Waterloo Region need our help).