COBS Bread Kingston is helping “The Food Sharing Project” with an almost $35,000 donation, all to provide healthy food to students.
Over $17,000 was donated, the founders of the chain matched that.
“That will make a huge impact,” says The Food Sharing Project Executive Director Andy Mills. “Food needs in schools for the nutrition programs that we supply have been going up and up, we’ve seen about a 40 per cent increase in September.
“More students, more families are struggling and finding that nutrition in school is really important.”
Those at the Rio-Can Centre, where COBS Bread is located, were more than pleased to be able to give back.
“All of us here really understand how important food is,” says COBS Bread Kingston franchisee Ashley Logan. “The fact that it’s going to our local children in the community, unfortunately there is a big need and we are happy that we can help in some positive way. Even if it’s just a little bit it does make a big difference.”
The Kingston store raised more money than any other COBS franchise in the country during its 2022 community fundraising campaign.
The city’s food-sharing efforts are also being helped by the new community food redistribution warehouse.
“The city’s needs have grown so exponentially that it was a natural progression to come to a space that is this size and this magnitude,” Lionhearts Program Manager Emma Cox says.
Cox is also the facility manager for the Community Food Redistribution Warehouse (CFRW).
“Prior to the pandemic our mandate was to receive donated food items, take those items and redistribute them after they’re sorted and looked through and send them into the 40 agencies in the area so that they can turn them into meals and get them into the hands of people that need them,” Cox says.
“This last year alone we were able to donate $4.1 million worth of food and household items to all of our agencies. And our hope is with this larger space that we’re able to raise that number even higher.”