Did you know that every day in Canada one out of every five kids heads off to school hungry? And in some parts of this country, that number is even higher; that’s over twenty-percent of our kids entering the schoolroom underfed. It’s hard to concentrate on anything when you’re hungry, let alone learning. Fortunately, “Toonies for Tummies” is addressing this serious problem, one toonie at a time.
Toonies for Tummies is the annual fundraising campaign initiated by The Grocery Foundation and once again Fiesta Farms is proud to participate.
“Our vision is simple: no hungry kids at school. The Grocery Foundation embraces teamwork and cooperation to tackle the problem. We’re a community of grocery, food, beverage and consumer product companies united by the mission to feed the one child in five who comes to school hungry. We believe that by coming together, we stand to have the biggest impact. We also believe in a Canada that’s True, North, Strong and Fed™. That’s why we all share the same vision, leverage our combined resources and work together to support student nutrition programs in hundreds of Canadian communities feeding over 1 million children.”- The Grocery Foundation
Toonies for Tummies is structured so that 100% of all in-store donations stay in the community where they’re made, meaning that the kids in your neighbourhood will directly benefit from every toonie. At Fiesta Farms, the campaign starts today and runs until February 20. And to make things even sweeter for the kids, on Saturday Feb 8 and Saturday Feb 15, Fiesta Farms will match all in-store donations, effectively doubling the fundraising on those two days.
If you’re looking to help out on a broader scale, assisting kids and neighbourhoods in other parts of the country, Toonies for Tummies makes it easy to help out by donating online, giving donors the opportunity to contribute to the Hungry Student Breakfast Program, or sign on to feed a student breakfast for a month, or an entire year. Currently Toonies for Tummies supports 1,495 programs in Ontario and Western Canada. You can even check out what programs are benefitting by checking out the Toonie Tracker.
Getting the word out and sharing the news is important to the success of fundraising endeavours like this, so make sure to let others know by sharing your experience on Instagram and Twitter by using the hashtag #toonies4tummies and #tooniechallenge. Also check out The Grocery Foundation’s Facebook page for more details as well as all the latest news on the campaign.
Click here to watch Sean Cullen learn first hand about #toonies4tummies
