THE FOOD SHARING PROJECT WELCOMES YU JIER KOU AS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

August 27, 2026

The Food Sharing Project, which provides healthy food to students in schools across the region every week, is pleased to announce the appointment of Yu Jier Kou as its new Executive Director.

The Food Sharing Project delivers nutritious food to all 88 schools across KFL&A, serving 16,000 students every school year, roughly half of all students enrolled in the region. In addition, FSP delivers packaged lunches to participating schools that are prepared in three off-site production kitchens. None of it happens without the generosity of donors, the dedication of volunteers and the strength of community partnerships built over more than 40 years.

The announcement comes as the organization bids a heartfelt farewell to Andy Mills, who is retiring after serving 7 years as Executive Director and leaves behind a legacy measured in the most meaningful of ways. More food, more staff, more deliveries and far more students and schools receiving the support they need.

Brenda Moore, Chair of The Food Sharing Project, expressed both gratitude and excitement. “Andy’s leadership carried us through years of unprecedented growth, including challenges such as the pandemic, and his impact will be felt for years to come. We are so thankful for the care and commitment Andy brought to this work. At the same time, we are excited to welcome Yu Jier. Her background in community coordination, partnership engagement and program development tell us she understands what this work means to the children and schools we serve, and we know she will bring that same commitment.”

Moore added, “Every day, this community shows up. Food boxes are packed, deliveries are made, and students get the support they need. That work does not stop, and it does not slow down. We are proud to have a leader who will build on the same values that have always driven this work.”

“The need for healthy food at school is growing every year, and so is our responsibility to meet it,” said Yu Jier Kou. “I am honoured to join The Food Sharing Project and look forward to working collaboratively with our Board, staff, volunteers, donors and community partners. Together, we will continue the work this community has believed in for more than 40 years. No child should sit in a classroom too hungry to learn.”

 

www.foodsharingproject.org
613-530-3514

9 CENTS IS NONSENSE

June 24, 2026

With no increase in annual funding since 2014, the Ontario government contributes 9 cents per student per day to Student Nutrition Programs across the province, which is the second lowest amount of any province or territory in Canada. To meet the skyrocketing needs of children and youth, The Food Sharing Project relies on federal funding, donations, grants and fundraising to supplement 9 cents per student per day to provide the snacks and meals students need daily to ensure their physical, mental and social well-being. In Ontario, where 1 in 4 children live in a household experiencing food insecurity, 9 cents is nonsense. If you agree, download the flyer below and email the enclosed message to your MPP.

NINE CENTS IS NONSENSE

*** See related info-video here***

CONGRATULATIONS to Andy Mills as he paddles into his next chapter!

June 17, 2026

Under Andy’s leadership, The Food Sharing Project has grown into so much MORE than it was seven years ago.

More food, more staff, more vans, more deliveries, more systems, and yes—more banana boxes! Most importantly, far more students and families receiving the support they need.

Guided by both a passion for ending hunger at school and a talent for spreadsheets, Andy brought a thoughtful, analytical approach to managing rapid growth. His leadership carried the organization through the pandemic and into a new era defined by the relentless need for school food. He built a strong, cohesive staff team and cultivated deep partnerships across KFL&A, always finding ways to do more with less.

The Board of Directors extends its sincere gratitude for Andy’s remarkable service and wishes him a healthy, joyful retirement.

CFRC radio interview with Food Sharing Project

May 20, 2026

 Radio Broadcast

A candid conversation with  Aara Macauley (she/her), Project Assistant Radio Queen’s University     Listen Here

 

CFRC also broadcasts on other downloadable apps including:

Growing demand for school meals drives Kingston chefs to action

May 15, 2026

The clink of wine glasses and the scent of seared seafood filled a bustling LIUNA Local 183 on Dalton Avenue on Saturday night.
Behind the polished plates and live music by Spencer and Oscar Evans, the event, Savour Spring: A Culinary Experience, had one simple goal: to make sure no child in the region has to learn on an empty stomach.The demand for a seat at this table was high.

“We were initially expecting about 100 people,” said Brenda Moore, chair of the Food Sharing Project, speaking over the hum of the crowd and clatter of dishes. “We had to get rid of the dance floor to accommodate everyone, I think about 160 guests.”

The sold-out fundraiser brought together six of Kingston’s top chefs in support of The Food Sharing Project, a nonprofit that has quietly become a backbone of student nutrition across Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington.

The organization now delivers roughly $25,000 worth of food each week to 88 schools, ensuring students have access to free breakfasts, lunches and snacks.

man and woman at fundraiser
Crave Coffee House owner John Staphopoulos and The Food Sharing Project chair Brenda Moore are all smiles at the Savour Spring: A Culinary Experience event in Kingston on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Photo by Bill Hall /The Kingston Whig-Standard

“It’s a reality that kids are hungrier than they’ve ever been,” said Moore. “Schools are calling us and apologizing because they need more food. They’re running out by Wednesday and trying to get to Friday.”

……full Article here: https://www.thewhig.com/news/growing-demand-for-school-meals-drives-kingston-chefs-to-action#comments-area

The Food Sharing Project expands into Kingston high school

May 15, 2026

A former cafeteria inside a Kingston high school has been upgraded from its old-school roots to better serve and nourish students.

The kitchen space inside Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic High School, which had been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic, will now serve as a new space for The Food Sharing Project’s Lunch is Ready program. The charity provides nutritious food to schools across Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington, all of which is funded mainly through Canada’s National School Food Program.

The program currently serves lunch to eight elementary schools in Limestone District School Board and the Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic District School Board, as well as 13 other schools that also receive large pans of shareable meals, all of which is cooked in their commercial kitchen.

The new space allows the program to not only serve meals twice a week to students at the high school, but also St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School and Molly Brant Public School.

“With one in four families in KFL&A experiencing food insecurity, and the nutritional gap between what families can provide and what kids need to thrive is widening every day,” said Brenda Moore, the chair of The Food Sharing Project. “Kids really count on the food that we’re providing them at school, and a great example of that happened this winter. You’ll remember we had a lot of days where the school buses were canceled due to weather. Usually, the kids that walk to school, they stay home too on those days. But we heard from a couple of our schools that the numbers were down to start the day, but by late morning, Numbers were up. Kids were coming to school because that’s where lunch was.”

A commercial kitchen

 

 

 

The revamped kitchen inside Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic High School in Kingston on April 28, 2026. Various new appliances have been added. Photo by Maegen Kulchar /The Kingston Whig-Standard

 

 

 

……full Article here: https://www.thewhig.com/news/the-food-sharing-project-expands-into-kingston-high-school

The Food Sharing Project – Federal and Provincial announcements enhancing school nutrition programs

October 16, 2025

Immense gratitude shared by The Food Sharing Project for school food
announcements from Federal government and Province of Ontario

Kingston, Ontario, October 14, 2025

The Food Sharing Project, which provides nutritious food to all 88 schools across KFL&A, is thrilled with announcements on October 10 from the federal government and Province of Ontario to increase funding to school food programs. Prime Minister Carney announced that the federal commitment to funding for the National School Food Program will be made permanent in the November 2025 Budget. At almost the same time, Minister Parsa of Ontario’s Ministry of Children,
Community and Social Services announced that Ontario will increase it’s annual funding to Student Nutrition Programs by $5 million.

Brenda Moore, Chair of The Food Sharing Project was elated with both announcements. “Funding from the National School Food Program started to flow to us last January and it has been transformational, allowing us to move to the next level of school food support. We launched Lunch is Ready! Le déjeuner est prêt! a pilot project in which we delivered 12,000 prepared lunches to seven elementary schools between April and June 2025. A freshly prepared, hearty lunch with a nutritious main item accompanied by milk and fruit is what students need to thrive, and the pilot was very successful. Until Friday, expansion was a dream but now we can confidently turn that dream into reality and provide the robust food our children and youth so desperately need to support their physical, emotional and mental health.”

The Food Sharing Project is the non-profit organization that provides nutritious food and equipment for Student Nutrition Programs in every KFL&A school. Each week, volunteers pack over 450 boxes of food, with an accumulated weight of 9 tonnes and an value of $25,000, which are delivered to schools where school staff and volunteers endeavour to prepare snacks and meals for any student who needs healthy food, no questions asked.

Moore says, “The reality is that educators, teachers and educational assistants, have very limited time outside of their classroom responsibilities to make sandwiches, toast bagels or cut up fresh fruit and vegetables. It is heart-breaking for them because they are in tune with the needs of their students and they know that kids are going hungry, every day at their school.”

“The need for healthy food at schools continues to increase every year as families struggle with the affordability crisis,” says Andy Mills, Executive Director of The Food Sharing Project. “Families have had too many years of record increases in food costs, with no corresponding relief in the high cost of rent, their mortgage or gas to get to work. They are increasingly relying on the availability of food at school for their kids and our funding can’t keep up.”

Moore hopes that the additional $5M in provincial funding will be the first of a phased-in approach to bring funding from the Ontario government closer to that of other provinces and territories. “Hopefully, the province will see permanent funding at the national level as an assurance that Canadians share the belief that no child should go to school hungry, and they will be eager to add further investment to ensure children in Ontario can reach their full potential.”

“Our work is not done with these two announcements. A national school food program, where every child has access to a nutritious meal every day, prioritizes the health and wellbeing of our children but it is a massive financial undertaking. It will take all of us, all levels of government, business leaders, corporate sponsors, and support from the broader community to make it happen. The Food Sharing Project will look to our community partners and generous donors, as well as develop new partnerships to work with us to invest in the future of our children and in the future of our community. We all are responsible for the wellbeing of others, and we must dedicate ourselves to ensuring that our children and youth have the food they need to thrive.” concludes Moore. 

——–

For more information contact:

Brenda Moore, Chair, Board of Directors, The Food Sharing Project
613-483-6818
brekmoore@gmail.com

For more information about The Food Sharing Project contact: andy@foodsharingproject.org or go to www.foodsharingproject.org

“Lunch Is Ready!” prepared meal program

June 25, 2025

Story to come.

City of Kingston declares a food insecurity emergency

January 28, 2025

City of Kingston declares a food insecurity emergency: Appeal from Chair Brenda Moore

On January 14, 2025, Kingston City Council declared a food insecurity emergency in the city. Just prior to that, the South East Health Unit (formerly KFL&A Public Health) released their annual report on The Cost of Eating Healthy in KFL&A, reporting that 1 in 3 households in KFL&A lived with food insecurity in 2023. 1 in 3 households is devastating when we know it was 1 in 6 households in 2022 and 1 in 9 households in 2021. Read The Cost of Eating Healthy report to understand why no one is getting ahead.

When your family lives with food insecurity, the food your loved ones need to support good health is out of reach and you don’t know if there will even be enough food next week or next month. 

Make a donation to The Food Sharing Project today and help us provide the nutritious food the children and youth who live in those 1 in 3 households experiencing food insecurity need to thrive. When they have access to good food at school, their parents and caregivers can redirect their limited income to pay the rent, the mortgage, or the utilities and put gas in the car to get to work.

The Food Sharing Project receives funding from the Ontario government through the Student Nutrition Program and that funding has not increased since 2014. If you can, please consider donating a portion of the $200 rebate cheque you will be receiving from the Ontario government.  Your donation, no matter the amount, will go a long way to ensure that our kids have the nutritious food they need. Success starts with good food.

Thank you for your kind consideration of our request.

Warmly,

Brenda Moore
Chair, Board of Directors
The Food Sharing Project

P.S. Your donations up to Feb. 28, 2025, can be claimed on your 2024 personal income tax return.

The Food Sharing Project delighted with announcement of new National School Food Program

April 8, 2024

From disappointed to delighted – federal government announcement of support for national school food program applauded by The Food Sharing Project

April 8, 2024 — The Food Sharing Project, which provides nutritious food to schools across KFL&A every week, is thrilled with the federal government’s April 1st announcement that a national school food program will be supported by $1 billion over the next five years when the 2024 Budget is released on April 16. This funding is targeted to feed 400,000 more children and youth at school.

Brenda Moore, Chair of The Food Sharing Project was delighted with the news. “When the 2023 Budget was released without the federal government acting on its 2021 commitment to imbed funding for a national school food program in the budget, we were so disappointed. Now, that pledge has been honoured at a time when this funding is so desperately needed as families across the country struggle to put food on the table.”

Moore added, “We need to take a moment to celebrate this accomplishment, which is the result of many years of work particularly by the Coalition for Healthy School Food and Breakfast Club of Canada, national organizations  which have been laser-focused to turn words into reality. They rallied Canadians across the country, politicians at all levels, educators, community partners, even students provided their voice, to endorse a national school food program. As Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jenna Sudds said last Monday, the announcement was the result of ‘steadfast advocacy’.” 

The Food Sharing Project thanks school board partners, Kingston City Council and community partners for endorsing the call and in particular, Kingston and the Islands MP Mark Gerretsen who suggested petitions from local school communities which he read in the House of Commons to bring the local voice to Ottawa. 

More details will be available in the coming weeks, but the hope is that federal funding will flow to the provinces and territories to support existing school nutrition programs where the infrastructure is already in place to get food to students. 

The Food Sharing Project, now in its 40th year, is the non-profit which provides nutritious food to all 88 KFL&A schools. Each week, volunteers pack over 450 boxes of food, valued at $20,000, which are delivered to the schools where school staff and volunteers prepare snacks and meals for any student who needs healthy food, no questions asked.

“The need for healthy food at schools continues to increase every year as families struggle with the affordability crisis,” says Andy Mills, Executive Director of The Food Sharing Project. “Families who were just making it by last year now have to pay more for rent, gas and food, and they are increasingly relying on the availability of food at school for their kids. School Coordinators tell us the need is greater since September 2023 and our funding can’t keep up. We know there are kids going hungry at school.”

Moore hopes the federal announcement will leverage more funding from the Ontario government, despite funding remaining at 2014 levels in the recently released provincial budget. “Ted Hsu, MPP for Kingston and the Islands, helped bring the critical need for more funding to Ontario Ministers, and Ontario Liberals added their voice to the call from the Coalition for Healthy School Food for Ontario to double its commitment.”

“Canada is now a country which prioritizes the health and wellbeing of its greatest asset, its children. This funding marks a new chapter in school nutrition programs, one with the goal that every child, from kindergarten to grade 12, will have access to good food at school. We will look to our community partners and generous donors to continue to work with us to level the playing field and ensure all children have a chance to reach their full potential,” concludes Moore.

For more information about The Food Sharing Project contact fsp@foodsharingproject.org or go to www.foodsharingproject.org

Other News

THE FOOD SHARING PROJECT WELCOMES YU JIER KOU AS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Food Sharing Project, which provides healthy food to students in schools across the region every week, is pleased to announce the appointment of Yu Jier Kou as its new […]

Read More
9 CENTS IS NONSENSE

With no increase in annual funding since 2014, the Ontario government contributes 9 cents per student per day to Student Nutrition Programs across the province, which is the second lowest amount of […]

Read More
CONGRATULATIONS to Andy Mills as he paddles into his next chapter!

Under Andy’s leadership, The Food Sharing Project has grown into so much MORE than it was seven years ago. More food, more staff, more vans, more deliveries, more systems, and […]

Read More