With a cheque worth $100,000 in their back pocket, Food4Kids Muskoka is now sending nearly 200 students home every weekend with food.
Sarah Thatcher, founder and executive director of the local Food4Kids operation, started the program in Sept. 2023 at three schools in Huntsville but thanks to the thousands of good deeds done by the Huntsville Sting U13-Black team, she says they were able to expand quicker than expected.
Thatcher explains they currently provide food bags to students at:
- Irwin Memorial Public School in Lake of Bays
- Monck Public School and Muskoka Falls Public School in Bracebridge
- K.P. Manson Public School and Muskoka Beechgrove Public School in Gravenhurst
- Glen Orchard Public School and Watt Public School in Muskoka Lakes
- Huntsville Public School, Pine Glen Public School, Spruce Glen Public School, Saint Mary Catholic School, and V.K. Greer Memorial Public School in Huntsville
Thatcher says they work closely with school staff so the program can be offered discreetly. “Teachers and principals and school staff know the families that are having a difficult time,” she says.
Thatcher suggests any families who have a child at one of the schools they support who may need the program’s help reach out to the principal.
Kristie Shaver, marketing and communications manager for Food4Kids Muskoka, remembers Thatcher texting her after their first week. She explains they had sent seven students home with food bags which Thatcher said meant they were eating breakfast Saturday morning when they may not have been able to do without their support. Shaver says it was emotional knowing their work and the support from the community helped families who otherwise may not have known where to turn. “A lot of the times we hear from people if only this program had been around when I was a kid or when I was raising my kids as a solo parent,” continues Shaver.
With a roster of 100 volunteers, Shaver says they’re very fortunate to not be in a position where they have a dire need for helping hands. “We quickly built a community of people,” she says.
Shaver explains a Facebook group has been set up for the volunteers. She will post about where food needs to be picked up or dropped off and, almost instantly, one of the members will respond. “It’s a smooth transition,” she says.
While they don’t need volunteers, Shaver says they’re looking for financial donations. While the winnings from the Good Deeds Cup are supporting the not-for-profit’s rapid expansion, they want to ensure they can continue for as long as they’re needed.
Shaver explains it costs $15 per food bag, adding they hope to be feeding 400 students by the fall, which is almost double what they initially projected when the program started eight months ago.
Thatcher says the issue of food insecurity isn’t going away any time soon, which is why they, along with the five others who are on the board of directors of Food4Kids Muskoka, are taking action. “If we can solve a problem for 160 kids this weekend where they will get food and they can have breakfast and they can have lunch and play and have the energy to do the things they need to do, that’s what we want to do right now,” says Thatcher.
According to its website, Food4Kids was started in Hamilton in 2012 and has since established chapters in six other areas which provide food packages to over 4,000 kids every weekend.
“When families feel seen and feel cared for, that means a lot more than maybe just a food bag,” says Thatcher. “It means that kids can receive what they need to do well in school, at home, and in their communities.”