Advertisement

Buy one, donate one: Mealshare charity expands into Winnipeg

Click to play video: 'Buy one, donate one: Mealshare charity expands into Winnipeg'
Buy one, donate one: Mealshare charity expands into Winnipeg
WATCH: A new social enterprise in Winnipeg lets people who dine out feed others in addition to feeding themselves. Global's Brittany Greenslade reports. – Aug 13, 2018

Buy one, donate one. It’s a simple concept one group is hoping Winnipeggers will get behind.

Mealshare is a non-profit organization that donates meals to children in need by connecting local restaurants with local charities.

“It’s a buy one, give one model,” Mealshare Community Leader Chantal Lacoste said. “Basically once the customer orders they are not only getting their meal, they are giving a meal to a youth in our community.”

READ MORE: Everyday Hero: Mealshare on pace to serve 1 million meals to youth in need

The social enterprise launched in Winnipeg in mid-June.

When diners purchase a ‘Mealshare’ item from a participating restaurant, one dollar goes to the charity to purchase food and provide a meal to a youth in need.

Story continues below advertisement

“Our goal is to help end youth hunger,” Lacoste said. “Going out to eat is a luxury. Not everyone can afford to do that. So why not give back with something a lot of us take for granted everyday?”

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

In each city that Mealshare operates, it works with a different local charity – in Winnipeg’s case, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg – to donate meals. The organization also works with Save the Children, which provides meals to children in Africa.

“One of the things we do within our clubs across the city, we always feed kids a meal who come through our doors,” Michelle Schmidt, the Director of programs for Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg said. “We know that sometimes it may be the only meal they’ll see that day or the only healthy meal they’ll see that day.”

READ MORE: ‘Buy one, give one’: Mealshare expands to new restaurants in Toronto

Pizzeria Libretto is on of the restaurants offering Mealshare’s ‘buy one, donate one’ meals in Toronto. Mealshare held an event to launch the new batch of restaurants being added to the Toronto roster on Thursday May 21, 2015, at Pizzeria Libretto on Danforth Ave. Heather Loney, Global News

But it can be a daunting task to always have enough funds to cover the cost of that food.

Story continues below advertisement

“We’re always looking for dollars to provide that food and that healthy food for kids,” Schmidt said. “A dollar is huge. It costs, for us, probably $2 to feed a kid a day and to know that most of that, half of that, is covered through a partner like Mealshare is huge.”

Participating restaurants in Winnipeg include Stella’s, Original Joes, Fionn’s, Confusion Corner, Mona Lisa, The Merchant Kitchen, Teo’s and Pizzeria Gusto.

Already, 1,249 meals have been donated within the city.

Across the country, Mealshare has donated more than 2.1 million meals.

Mealshare originally launched in Calgary in 2013, teaming up with four restaurants. It now has partnerships with more than 80 restaurants in eight cities and 45 communities.

Sponsored content

AdChoices