Mission Statement

To address child hunger by providing packages of healthy food for children suffering from deep and persistent poverty with limited or no food during weekend periods or summer months.

About Food4Kids

Food4Kids Ontario is the parent agency overseeing 7 regional chapters in Ontario that includes: Hamilton, Halton, Guelph, Mississauga, Muskoka, Niagara and Toronto. The agency was formed in 2012 to address the hidden yet pervasive problem of hunger among school-age children. It became clear that even with food banks and school nutrition programs, many children go without food on weekends and during the summer months.

The impact of food insecurity on children is well documented affecting concentration, capacity, cognitive development, energy levels, physical growth, school performance, social development, and home life stability. While the impact of child hunger has long-term consequences, the solution is simple - providing healthy food directly to children in need.

Food4Kids offers two programs, Weekend without Hunger and the Summer Feeding Program, both addressing the challenges of food accessibility in our communities.

Weekends without Hunger Program: Children ages 4-14 years, identified as living with food insecurity, are referred by their schools into the program. At school on Fridays, healthy food packages prepared by teams of volunteers are tucked into the children's backpacks. The distribution method is discreet shielding children from any stigma associated with hunger or receiving food assistance.

Summer Feeding Program: Since the pandemic and the incredible increase of children being served we send grocery gift cards to our families so they may continue to access food. In some chapters they are able to send bins of healthy food directly to the children's homes as well during the summer break.

The difference Food4Kids makes is in its distribution process alleviating barriers families face accessing community food services such as transportation, hours of operation, limits of the quantity or frequency of use, mobility issues, shame, mental health issues, or special diet foods. Our network provides healthy food for 3,900 children every weekend, and during summer months and is sustained through donations or one-time grants.