The Sharing Place Food Centre's critical School Fuel program is getting an important jolt of octane.
Orillia Home Hardware Building Centre has committed to matching up to $20,000 in donations to support student nutrition from March 1, until April 6.
The School Fuel program was launched during the pandemic when the Sharing Place realized school nutrition programs were going to be significantly impacted by a loss of volunteers.
“We created a super simple program for schools to be able to access healthy food,” explained Chris Peacock, executive director of the Sharing Place Food Centre. “We did all the shopping and packing it all up.”
The program supports 4,200 students in 23 local schools. Peacock says that coincides with a "staggering" 32 percent of Sharing Place visitors being those 18 and younger.
The Sharing Place is funding 50 percent of school food costs and delivering food to schools that participate in the School Fuel program every two weeks.
“During the pandemic that was essential because there were no volunteers in the schools,” Peacock said. “Now volunteers are back in the schools, but we are only increasing the support we are providing them.”
The increase in student nutrition costs this school year is 75 per cent due to inflation.
“The costs of healthy nutritious food, that every parent wants to put in their child’s snack bag, has become more and more challenging for people to access,” Peacock said. “Not only people in the lower class, but people in the middle class are really struggling.”
As a parent of two young children, Peacock says it’s “unfair” that many children are going without healthy and nutritious food on a daily basis.
“There are a lot of kids out there that aren’t able to keep a healthy body and healthy mind to be able to learn at school,” he said.
Peacock commends Home Hardware for their support of the School Fuel Program.
“When you shop at Home Hardware, you are investing in the community,” he said. “They continually step up to the plate, find organizations who do great work, and support them.”
Kirk McLean, a co-owner of Orillia Home Hardware, says food insecurity is a huge issue in the community and it’s important for everybody to do their part to make sure nobody goes hungry.
“A lot of us at Home Hardware have young kids who access this program,” he said. “Nursing young kids' bodies and minds is super important and this program helps with that.”
You can donate to the School Fuel program here, Home Hardware is also collecting donations at their check-out tills.
