GUELPH AND WELLINGTON COUNTY – Two respected local charities that are helping kids get enough food to eat will merge their operations in an effort to better address the growing community food insecurity crisis.
On July 1 Food4Kids Guelph united its services with the operations of the Children’s Foundation for a more coordinated approach to their programs.
The Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington provides universal access to school breakfast, snack, and lunch programs in Wellington, Dufferin, and Guelph.
The program has run since 1999.
Food4Kids Guelph has helped bridge the weekend and holiday gap by delivering food packages for severely food insecure children to take home from school for the weekend.
Both charities also provide grocery gift cards to help families buy food during school breaks and the holiday season.
And now the Children’s Foundation will operate both programs under the new names Keep Kids Fed At School and Keep Kids Fed At Home.
The school program will provide breakfast, snacks and lunch to children and the at home program will bridge weekend and holiday gaps.
There will be no gap or change to any of the services that are provided by the two programs.
Food4Kids Guelph’s sole employee will join the Children’s Foundation team to continue running the food at home operations, further supporting a seamless transition.
“The more we can do together, the better off our kids will be,” said Food4Kids Guelph board chair Donna Graham.
“Consolidating our services will lead to efficiencies and make it easier to fundraise and recruit volunteers.
“Our board of directors gave this considerable thought, and our two organizations have had many conversations to ensure this is the right direction for our community,” Graham continued.
“We are confident that our unification will fortify the weekend and holiday food program and contribute to increased efficiency, sustainability, capacity, and reach.”
By bringing Food4Kids Guelph activities under the Children’s Foundation’s food security program, organizers will look for efficiencies in areas such as needs assessment, outreach and communications, food purchasing, delivery, fundraising, and volunteer management.
Food insecurity crisis requires new partnerships
In the last two years, the cost of food has increased more than 14 per cent while demand for food security support in Canada has soared.
In Ontario, as many as one in four children live in a household that identifies as food insecure.
Around five per cent of children in our community are severely food insecure and regularly miss meals at home.
“With rising inflation and poverty, child food security is a community crisis,” said Children’s Foundation board chair Joe Migliaccio.
“Kids have a basic right to food. We need to think differently to meet that need.”
Karyn Kirkwood, executive director at the Children’s Foundation states, “Making the most of financial and human resources is a high priority and we are hopeful this centralized expertise and program delivery will strengthen the Children’s Foundation’s ability to shorten wait lists so that we can continue our work, and ideally, reach and support more kids.”
Food4Kids Guelph began in 2018 with funding from local donors and the local Rotary Clubs, and later affiliated with Food4Kids Ontario, which assists independent agencies operating across the province.
The decision to step away from the provincial organization was emotional, says Graham.
“We will be forever proud of our history with Food4Kids Ontario and are grateful for all the help we received from them in growing our local program,” she said.
Food4Kids Guelph currently supports around 500 kids year-round within the city of Guelph.
The Children’s Foundation’s in-school nutrition programs serve upwards of 20,000 students in Guelph, Wellington, and Dufferin.
