Ontario adds $5M in funding to Student Nutrition Program

Ontario Premier Doug Ford delivers food at the Salvation Army food bank during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Friday, October 9, 2020. Ontario is adding $5 million in funding to the Student Nutrition Program, which provides free snacks and meals to kids in schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Ontario is adding $5 million in funding to the Student Nutrition Program, which provides free snacks and meals to kids in schools.

Children, Community and Social Services Minister Michael Parsa says proper nutrition is an important foundation for academic success and the new funding brings the program total to $38 million.

The government is also launching a fundraising campaign with organizations such as the Breakfast Club of Canada and the Grocery Foundation to raise an additional $5 million for the Student Nutrition Program.

The program funds 14 agencies across the province that work with other community groups to run breakfast, snack and lunch programs in about 4,500 schools.

The transition binder prepared for Parsa when he took over as minister in March said that the organizations were finding it "increasingly difficult" to fundraise to support program costs, exacerbated by the pandemic, supply chain challenges and the rising cost of food.

Catherine Parsonage, the co-chair of Student Nutrition Ontario, says that it has also been difficult to secure donations and volunteers at the local level, and the $5 million from the government comes at a good time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.