United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County has launched their annual summer fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $185,000 to support their Summer Eats for Kids & Backpacks for Success programs.
The programs help low-income families with access to nutritious food during the summer months when school nutrition programs are closed, and provides supplies to kids that will help them succeed in their next school year.
In Windsor-Essex, 1 in 3 food bank users are children. United Way's goal is to provide 3,500 bags of food and 8,250 lunches to children and families in the community this summer.
Backpacks for Success provides students in need in kindergarten through grade 12 throughout Windsor-Essex County with backpacks filled with grade-appropriate supplies they need for school.
United Way says providing kids with back-to-school supplies increases classroom participation, attendance and student morale.
Lorraine Goddard, CEO, United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County says we know food inflation has reached 10 per cent and we're all being impacted.
"But if you think of families who are living in low income, they just are struggling even more. We've seen last year food bank usage was up across our region 17 per cent. But when we drill down and we look at for example, west Windsor food bank usage increased by 64 percent. 31 percent in downtown Windsor and 24 per cent in Leamington."
She says a lot of people don't realize that when you attend a food bank you only get a few days worth of food and you cannot keep going back.
"And in the summer that's really amplified because when kids are in school, the school's do have either a snack program or maybe a breakfast program, or something. So they are getting their food supplemented. But in the summer that's not available anymore, so hunger really intensifies."
She says a donation of $25 goes a long way to helping out the kids.
"We're able to provide a family with a weeks worth of, it's a food box, a weeks worth of snacks and fruits and vegetables and things like that. Or a backpack that's also filled with school supplies."
Click here to donate.
Summer Eats for Kids runs July 11 to August 24, 2023 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the following locations:
TUESDAYS:
Prince Edward
General Brock
Queen Elizabeth (Leamington)
THURSDAYS:
West Gate Public School
Dougall Ave. Public School
Frank W. Begley Public School
Backpacks for Success will be collecting school supplies and book donations throughout the summer at the United Way office at 300 Giles Blvd. E, Unit A1 on Mondays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Fridays from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. between July 8 and August 12, 2023 or by contacting Susan Merryfield at United Way at 519-259-6177 to arrange an alternate drop off time.
Donations of lined paper, coloured pencils, binders, backpacks and scientific calculators are welcome. Only new backpacks and school supplies will be accepted. Both new and gently used books are welcomed.
-With files from AM800's Rob Hindi