Each season, our staff develop nutritious menus and share them with participating schools. Families can then order lunches for their children, with schools helping to coordinate orders and participation.

Once the orders are in, our staff and volunteers get to work. Together, they prepare ingredients, cook meals, portion food and pack each lunch with fruit and milk.

The Food Sharing Project then delivers the prepared lunches directly to participating schools, ready for students to enjoy.

Lunches are prepared in commercial kitchens at LiUNA Local 183 and Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic High School, as well as through our partnership with Jobwell Enterprises.

Our staff and volunteers work together to prepare ingredients, cook meals, portion food and pack lunches for delivery. Each lunch is prepared with fruit and milk.

Once everything is packed and ready, our team delivers the lunches directly to participating schools.

All meals offered through the Lunch is Ready! program are suitable for a Halal diet. Each week, our menu includes a vegetarian option, with plant-based and gluten-free options also available.

Menus change throughout the year, giving students a variety of nutritious meals to enjoy.

It takes many hands to prepare 2,500 lunches for students each week, and volunteers are an important part of making it happen.

Volunteers work alongside our staff in our kitchens to prepare ingredients, portion food, assemble meals and pack lunches for delivery to schools. No professional kitchen experience is needed.

Whether you are looking to volunteer regularly, join us occasionally or bring a group together for a volunteer experience, there are opportunities to be part of the Lunch is Ready! program.

Learn how to volunteer here. 

If you have been notified by your school that it is participating in the Lunch is Ready! program, families can register and order lunches online through our Lunch is Ready! ordering site.

Registration is free, and families can select meals based on the options available for the current session.

Lunches are provided free of charge! However, families can opt to pay the full or partial value of the meal. All payments are reinvested back into the Lunch is Ready! program.

If you need help registering or ordering, please contact info@foodsharingproject.org.

The Lunch is Ready! program currently serves approximately 2,500 students each week at 42 schools across Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, and we would like to reach more.

Expanding the program requires additional food, funding, kitchen space, equipment, staff, volunteers and delivery capacity to prepare and transport more lunches each week.

If you, your community group or business would like to sponsor a school, we would be happy to hear from you.

Help us reach more schools.

Some schools participate in our Heat & Serve option. These meals are prepared in advance by our team and delivered to schools, where they can be heated and served to students on site.

Heat & Serve allows schools with suitable facilities to take part in the Lunch is Ready! program in a different way. The Food Sharing Project takes care of the meal preparation, while school staff and volunteers handle the final heating and serving.

It is another way we can use existing school spaces and increase the number of students who can enjoy a prepared lunch at school.