You Can Make this a Summer of Hope

Summer is a time of year that students look forward to year round but for parents it can be overwhelming.

Needing to organize childcare options, trying to entertain your children all summer long. It can be stressful. And for many families accessing our Good Food Centre, their biggest question is “how am I going to feed my family?”

“With households having school aged children home for the summer, they are now responsible to fill the void of the breakfast clubs and nutrition programs at our schools,” explained Mission Services Director of Food Services, Sue Smith.

At Mission Services, 86% of the households accessing the Good Food Centre are spending their total income on rent. The cost of additional groceries over the summer has a significant impact on families, especially when they have multiple children.

In the summer of 2022, Mission Services supported 2,818 children, a 31% increase from the summer of 2021. In fact, every metric from the summer of 2021 to the summer of 2022 increased and the cost of groceries has only continued to climb.

We know without access to nutritious foods the physical and mental health of children is impacted.

“We are in need of kid friendly and peanut-free foods so we can increase what we are giving out to our families at the Good Food Centre,” said Sue. “We hope to reduce child hunger and encourage healthy growth for our younger community members this summer!”

Please make this a Summer of Hope for all our community members by donating or running a food drive! Call us at 905-528-4211 x3113 for more information!