Have you ever started your day without breakfast?
Some choose to dash out to work with only a slice of toast or some cereal and a black coffee to keep them going for a few hours. Some of us, because of a chosen diet, consume nothing. Some of us, not from choice but from life’s challenges, have little or nothing to eat to start their day. Many children in our town are sent to school without any breakfast to help them to develop healthy bodies and brains. They are sent to school to begin their days , hungry. They have no choice.
In the Oakville magazine, ‘ Neighbours’ , Gayle Kabbash,Executive Director of Food 4 Kids Halton, said: “When people struggle financially…. food is purchased with whatever is left at month’s end…..some people don’t have a way to get to a food bank…Breakfast and snack programs provide great nourishment during the school week but are not available to children on the weekend…”
Food4kids helps by providing healthy school bags to more than 1,000 children aged 4-17 throughout more than
85 schools in Halton. Breakfast programs do not happen in every school, so items in the school bags can be eaten whenever needed. Gift cards are provided for participants during holidays.
Volunteers are invaluable to help to fill the bags and to deliver them to local schools. The items cost about $15 per bag , at no cost to the families. Referrals are made confidentially by teachers. Then volunteer drivers of Food4kids in each area ensure that bags are taken to school offices every Friday for specific children to pick up discreetly to take home.
At the Country Heritage Park in Milton, several groups of volunteers spend an hour or so filling bags with
‘kid-friendly, easy-to-prepare meals with maximum nutrition value’ eg. : cookies, muffins, bread rolls, oranges, apples and cans of ham or tuna.
If you or your group of volunteers would be interested in donating, packing food or driving please email
info@food4kidshalton.ca. Or Call 905 299 6287 in Milton and 905 469 3113 for the main Halton office.
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