Hunger does not take a vacation

Written by Ted Gorski, Executive Director at Investing In Children

Investing in Children has been in existence since 1999. Having been connected to the Charity for 16 of its 23 years of existence (either as a Board member or Executive Director), I have come to believe that providing nutritious snacks for all students in our community is of paramount importance; indeed, I see this as the most imperative initiative of all our 12 programs. 

We lead three different food-based programs. One of our programs, the Children’s Nutrition Network (CNN), illuminates our intimate relationship with the Ontario Student Nutrition Program (OSNP). 

The CNN includes other community partners such as the Middlesex London Health Unit and the InterCommunity Health Centre. Together, we make decisions based on requests from the community, asking for support for students in schools typically not funded by the OSNP; either because of lack of qualification or due to missed application deadlines. Several dozen school communities benefit significantly from the assistance this program offers. 

One of the most interesting surprises we experience is that many people simply follow objective data in an attempt to discover what areas of the City are in greatest need of nutrition assistance. Ironically, our experience at the CNN is that often seemingly “richer” areas of the City can be in need of assistance. Perhaps this is due to the levels of high inflation we are experiencing, or the financial impacts of the Pandemic. In any event, we are finding significant numbers of people in need of nutritious snacks throughout the City of London and the surrounding area in unprecedented numbers, regardless of the socio-economic status of their neighbourhood.   

Another program we lead is “Snack Stop”. This program began in 2018 when our staff identified a need related to serving children and youth during the summer months. We adopted the mantra that “hunger does not take a vacation”. Children and youth in London and area need nutritious starts to their day whether they attend a city camp, playground, library, family centre, or community centre. We started purchasing, preparing, and providing grocery buckets of food to targeted areas of need in London. We piloted 8 locations, but the need was far greater than we first thought. In 2019 we increased our reach to 14 locations and managed to sustain that number in 2020 through the beginning of the Pandemic. In 2021, we increased our reach to 20 locations, providing approximately 9,000 servings of nutritional snacks throughout the City of London. This year (2022), the program has yet again increased its reach to 33 locations, adding two Indigenous Centres and offering more than 14,000 servings of nutritious snacks – an increase of almost 65%! This year we also experienced an unprecedented number of telephone calls and emails from various groups requesting to be added to this service. Several others requested an increase from one to even two or three buckets of food. 

Investing in Children sees the need for this program rising as more and more people are calling and asking for help. There is no doubt that the need is great, but we are committed to the continued growth of this program in answer to this need!