We are Hiring: Summer Fresh Food Depot Coordinator
February 25, 2025

February 25, 2025
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.
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
May 31, 2023
Discussing Food Insecurity on YourTV’s Limestone Lens
May 26, 2023
The Food Sharing Project’s Executive Director, Andy Mills, was interviewed on YourTV by Donna Chambers, host of Limestone Lens, about food insecurity and the work that the organization does in the community to ensure that every student has access to nutritious food at school, every day. Watch the video here:
April 6, 2023
March 28, 2023
Disappointment is the word that comes to mind when we, at The Food Sharing Project, think of the lack of support for a national school food program in the federal budget released on March 28, 2023. School nutrition programs exist in every Canadian province and territory and the government had an opportunity to build on the amazing work of non-profits and volunteers to make a long-term investment in the health and well-being of our children. Enhancing existing programs with federal money will ensure that every Canadian child has at least one good meal a day, allowing them to take advantage of everything school has to offer.
Research and educators tell us that when children can access nutritious food at school, they are more engaged in their learning, can focus better on tasks and can have more positive social interactions throughout the day. In addition, the fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, dairy and protein they enjoy at school, helps to build healthy eating habits as adults. Healthy children save healthcare dollars and grow up to make meaningful contributions to their communities.
One in nine families in the city of Kingston and the counties of Frontenac and Lennox and Addington, experience food insecurity. When we provide nutritious food for their children at school, they can pay rent, or put gas in the car to get to work. Between the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and grocery store prices which continue to sky-rocket, families are more than just struggling; they are rapidly falling behind. In their attempts to meet unrelenting need, organizations which fund school nutrition programs are also falling behind and many are facing the reality of running out of money before the end of this school year.
Over the next year, we will step up our efforts to advocate for the essential support our children need. We will build on conversations already started and we are hopeful that Canadian families will see an investment in the future with funding for a national school food program in the 2024 federal budget.
Sincerely,
Brenda Moore
Chair, Board of Directors, The Food Sharing Project
April 3, 2023, Kingston, Ontario
March 10, 2023
June 8, 2022
December 16, 2021
In partnership with Lionhearts and Rotary in Kingston, The Food Sharing Project is helping to support families of students who are struggling by providing weekend food support with a bi-weekly food box. Students already have access to healthy snacks and meals at school thanks to food provided by The Food Sharing Project and organized by a school coordinator. But some students’ families find it difficult to provide healthy food on the weekend at home, especially with the rapidly rising costs of food, plus paying for rent, utilities and gas in the car to get to work.
Volunteers from all three organizations will pack food boxes and deliver them directly to the homes of families who are referred to the program by their school contact. Food boxes will include fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs, bread, cheese and other food, intended to offer breakfast and lunch support for the weekends.
The Food Sharing Project would like to acknowledge funding of $45,000 from the Province of Ontario that is being used to purchase food for the new weekend food support program.