The Grocery Foundation
5399 Eglinton Ave W Suite 105 M9C 5K6 Toronto, ON, Canada

You might have seen a "Join Us" and Proud Sponsor communication in store during Toonies for Tummies. JANES is among our amazing 29 sponsors who help us ensure 100% of shopper donations make their way to hungry tummies. You can learn a bit more about their efforts to support various organizations and causes on our blog. Check it out: https://groceryfoundation.com//janes-is-celebrating-toonie.

A busy @sobeys in Oakville #ontario keeping customers safe, promoting our sponsors, and Heather here telling every customer about #toonies4tummies as she helped them. Such a wonderful store team supporting their local community. You can support #toonies4tummies at your local @sobeys @thriftyfoods @safewaycanada #IGA #Foodland and #participating co-ops through until February 25

THANK YOU, INDEED! This inspired wall made possible by shopper donations says it all. Food Basics shoppers across Ontario were incredibly kind the last two weeks supporting the 2021 #Toonies4Tummies campaign. So many communities stand to benefit across the province. Stay tuned for more pics and updates on the campaign which continues at Sobeys stores in Western Canada, Ontario and in Atlantic Canada (including Safeway, IGA, Thrifty Foods, Safeway, Foodland, and Participating Co-ops)

We popped in to visit @sobeys #brampton #ontario. They’re one of many amazing @sobeys @safeway @thriftyfoods #foodland and participating #co-ops helping support local student nutrition programs in their local communities . They’re collecting toonies now through February 25.

When you walk the grocery store, you may see signs in front of products that indicate they are a #Toonies4Tummies sponsor. There are many. A number of these brands are long-time sponsors of Toonies4Tummies and The Grocery Foundation's Mission, others are new to our community. We're thrilled to have them all and their help at a time when kids need it most. With our sponsor support, we're able to ensure 100% of your donations remain local. https://groceryfoundation.com//franks-red-hot-sponsoring-t

Talk about #mondaymotivation. Dave Skitch, Store Manager Metro Ontario in Pickering Ontario took the #ToonieChallenge to heart promising to shave the moustache that he’s been sporting for decades if his team was able to raise $6,000 in donations to benefit their local community and "hair" you have it :) well done Dave and team!

48-HOUR COUNTDOWN!!!! We are 2 days away from the 2021 #toonies4tummies campaign. We know the last 10 months have been a long haul for almost everyone. But we’ve all been lifting one another up, including through kind gestures. This time last year, you helped us raise $2.5M. To say those funds have been a life saver for hungry children is an understatement. ... We have many local grocery retailers supporting our mission to feed hungry children. 100% of your donation will remain in your community and benefit a local child. If you’re able, please help us feed the many hungry children in your community by donating a toonie in-store. See the campaign dates and retailer campaign windows, here. Let’s help them continue to have access to a healthy meal in the morning so they can focus and make the most of online and in person learning. With food insecurity growing we’re facing twice the #tooniechallenge, we hope you will join us. You can also donate online at groceryfoundation.com. Thank you for your support and helping us spread the word!

Amazing match funds day PLUS a wonderful cooking school opportunity. Check out Longo's for more info. https://www.longos.com/cooking-classes/. Have fun and give back!!!!

@Longo’s first Match Funds is today! Your donations to #Toonies4Tummies will be matched and help go twice as far! Be sure to visit your local store. 100% of your donation will remain in the community and help the growing number of hungry children trying to study and who may be living in a food insecure household.

#Toonies4Tummies will return one week today at participating grocery stores in Western Canada, Ontario and Atlantic Canada! Check out our website for campaign details in your community, including the brands supporting our mission to feed the far too many children trying to learn while hungry and who are also facing many other sources of stress amid a world of changes. The Grocery Foundation continues to support hungry school children and the student nutrition programs that ...have been a vital lifeline for them, helping them access healthy food during COVID-19, whether they are studying at school and at home. The need has never been greater. With your support, we hope to fill two times the number of hungry tummies. 100% of your donations benefit a local program, and you can track your toonie by entering your postal code on our website. Check back often as we'll be adding more programs, including those in Atlantic Canada that stand to benefit from this year's (2021) campaign! Thank you on behalf of countless children who will benefit from your support. #ToonieChallenge #ToonieChallenge2X

This video was filmed well before Covid. We had the opportunity to speak with people who are invovled in student nutrition programs, some who themselves went hungry as children. Your donations have a powerful and lasting impact. We want to be sure to share this story with you now as so many children stand to rely on toonies during our upcoming campaging. Thank you for supporting our mission to feed hungry children in communities across Canada and to the people who help us do this important work each and every day.

Kindness comes in many formsa smile, opening a door, giving your ear to someone in need of a friend. It also includes helping those who are less fortunate and benefit from our generosity. Many people have been incredibly kind during these unprecedented times, helping get groceries, checking in on friends and neighbours in need and other remarkable acts of kindness. Among those doing wonderful things are those helping to feed hungry children. This includes assembling safely ...in make shift spaces to package food and then arrange for it to be delivered to children studying at home or in the schools where they are eager to continue to learn while looking forward to brighter days. So many people we can’t ever personally thank for giving a toonie including during our Toonies for Tummies campaign which will return January March 2021. Because of your past generosity we’re able to support the growing number of hungry children, and we hope to invite you to join us again when children in our communities need us do all we can to support them. On #worldkindnessday we’d like to stop and take a moment and send you a virtual hug to say THANKSyou're incredible.

It’s scary. We know. But your donations help! Thanks for being part of our #Toonies4Tummies community and supporting all of the kids who are counting on us. Happy Halloween to the little ghosts and goblins running around your kitchen at the moment and the adults looking for a reason to dress up

YES! Today is a #FeelGoodFriday!!! We feel great sharing with you how donations from the 2020 #Toonies4Tummies campaign are helping communities. We’ve created these visuals, which show where %100 of your donations went based on the student nutrition programs in Ontario and in Western Canada.... Thanks so much to each one of you who took the #ToonieChallenge and supported our campaign this past January-March. Your donations are helping feed a growing number of hungry children and helping them continue to access a healthy breakfast both at modified student nutrition programs and through programs that are supporting hungry students while at home/virtual lessons. It’s the end of the week and we hope you have a wonderful weekend. A special thanks to our sponsors, retailer partners and the countless volunteers in so many communities who have been helping hungry children access a healthy breakfast. Before COVID hit, we asked many of you to make a donation at local grocery stores @ThriftyFoods @SOF @Safeway @Buy-LowFoods @Longos @NestersMarket @Metro @Sobeys @Foodland @FoodBasics @Rabba @GalatiMarket @Vinces @SunValey @Galleria @centralfrsh @Coppa @ConcordFood @oakridgesmarket @FiestaFarms @SunValley @YummyMarkets #FridayFeeling #FeelGoodFriday #FoodFriday

Thanksgiving during Covid certainly gives us a greater appreciation for food even if it means we’re unable to share it with as many friends and loved ones as we’d like to. Sharing a meal with friends is something that we can all relate to, including hungry students. Being able to access a healthy breakfast is one of the drivers of school attendance, that along with seeing friends and learning! We received this Thank You before Covid. ... While many students no longer sit with friends at their student nutrition programs, many are still accessing a healthy meal. Donors to Toonies for Tummies come from many communities. While we’re all unique in many ways, we share common values and beliefs when it comes to the importance of helping children in need. Thank you for being a part of our community and helping to feed hungry children we’re all better for it. #ThankfulThursday #Thanksgiving

We continue to receive some uplifting stories from communities that are benefitting from donations - here's a few we wanted to share :) Children’s Foundation of Guelph & Wellington The Children’s Foundation continued to provide students with access to healthy, nutritious food despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the closing of schools in March, the Children's Foundation, in partnership with local organizations, responded with a temporary emergency s...upport initiative called Fresh Food for Kids. The initiative provided almost 100,000 nutritious meals to local children and youth in Dufferin, Wellington and Guelph area. YMCA GTA Peel SNP We are grateful to receive the funding from The Grocery Foundation and put it to great use helping to cover costs from our Food Box Program. During school closures, students received one or multiple meal boxes containing grocery staples such as bread, milk, cereal, fruit, bagels, yogurt, hummus, cheese, and vegetables. Each food box contained approximately 15 meals. Many students experienced challenges with food security throughout the pandemic, and these boxes have greatly helped them and their families in positive ways. Students either came forward to their schools and requested help, or were nominated by Child and Youth Workers from the local school boards. These food boxes were part of a much larger effort that saw close to 200,000 meals go out to Peel students in need because of the COVID-19. There's never been a more critical need. We'd love for you to help, here's how: invite your friends to follow us and help us spread the word about the importance of supporting local student nutrition programs and #toonies4tummies. Thanks

We know times are tough for a lot of people, yet many of you here are generous with your comments, likes, shares and donations. A special thanks for the online donations. We’re so grateful

#ThankfulThursday means so much more today, given all that life brings our way, doesn’t it? Kids are back at school, giving it their very best, and that’s made possible thanks to you. So while it may feel like we’re powerless, in fact a toonie has so much power, as do you every time you donate one to #toonies4tummies.... Thanks for helping us help hungry kids!

Many of the stores who support #Toonies4Tummies are independent retailers, one of them is Galleria Supermarket. They made this wonderful video during our recent campaign and played an important part in helping us achieve record-breaking donations, which are now helping to feed children near their stores. Thank you to their amazing teams and customers. We can support student nutrition programs across Ontario thanks to them and the many independent retailers who continue to be ...a vital part of their community and ours. https://www.picuki.com/media/2240862923658645810

As we head into the weekend, we'd like to share this thank you note. We want you to know just how much your donations are having a positive impact on people in an incredibly difficult time. "I would love to thank the program for the wonderful snacks supplied to our home. It has given my 3 children a good amount of snacks to help keep them happy. Not being able to get to the stores as we used to and my husband being home for 3 weeks from work due to its closure has been tough. Receiving this food basket was just wonderful and a relief that our kids have nutritious snacks available to them. Thank you so much. P.S. THE ORANGES WERE FABULOUS.

As many families plan for back to school, teams at Qdoba Mexican Eats are gearing up to help feed children who are facing the prospect of returning to schoolboth in the classroom and from home, hungry. 11 participating QDOBA Canada locations will ask you to consider donating a toonie with your online and in-restaurant orders starting tomorrow, September 1 through to October 16. This way you are not only supporting a local restaurant, you are helping them support vulnerable... children who need our support more than ever. You can check out our page for their locations in Ontario and in Manitoba. https://bit.ly/3lDt1At You can also enter your postal code on our Toonie Tracker and see the local student nutrition programs which stand to benefit from 100% of the donations which will remain in the local community. #QDOBA #Toonies4Tummies

Did you miss this during our campaign? We had to be sure to share it again. Back to school is not far off, and we will share the funds collected with programs to help children, including families affected by Covid-19 https://www.facebook.com/BelmontSobeys/videos/190453335368637/?v=190453335368637

Many stories will never make the press, yet we know how many students be they in The UK, another town or in our own neighbourhood benefit immensely from student nutrition programs. Thank you to everyone who supports our mission. https://ca.hellomagazine.com//marcus-rashford-heartbreaki/

Thanks to the wonderful team at Buy Low Foods Clearwater and their customers for their ongoing support of hungry children, especially during Covid-19. https://www.clearwatertimes.com//toonies-for-tummies-bols/

Several years ago (2018), Vancouver media personality and blogger, Julie Van Rosendaal who writes under the name, Dinner with Julie, helped us spread work of the Toonies for Tummies campaign and its expansion in Western Canada. We were so grateful to her for her support of the campaign. Fast forward two years we're very moved to see how a student who is following Julie, and is inspired by her and her posts, embarked on her own efforts to support student nutrition. Every... like, share, donation, blog post, effort is making a change for so many hungry students. Bravo to Maisie, featured in the local news. Her actions exemplify compassion and community at its best. https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-teen-s-artwork-helps-to-

Students across Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, Lanark Country, Hastings, and Prince Edward Counties have been able to continue to access healthy food despite Covid-19-related school closures thanks to local partners supporting Food for Thought and Food for Learning and the Food Sharing Project. These three organizations, focused on providing student nutrition during the school year, are part of the Hastings and Prince Edward Learning Foundation, the Student Nutrit...ion Lead Agency for South Eastern Ontario. Following social distancing protocols, staff and volunteers across these organizations are providing food baskets and gift cards to thousands of local students who could otherwise attend local programs where they access healthy breakfasts and mid-morning meals. Close to $310,000 in donations including grocery gift cards, vouchers and coupons donated by various partners have made their way to students providing them sufficient funds for a healthy breakfast and snack for 20 school days which would be the same as if they programs were to continue. Local school boards, food banks, health units, Rotary Clubs and our program had to move quickly for many students in need, says Kellie Brace Student Nutrition Program Coordinator, for the region. Like so many across the province, once Covid-19 hit, Principals and local school board administrative and staff teams were quick to connect students to support. Over the past weeks school staff have been making regular calls checking in on their welfare. Besides student-specific supports, close to 1,500 families across the regions have received support, in the form of gift cards and food baskets which are being delivered curbside. A single parent of three primary school-aged children is among the recent recipients of one of these special deliveries. Current restrictions on large gatherings affects their job, preventing them from returning to work. The gift cards and access to the community Food to Share program is helping them manage anxiety when they can’t feed their children, says a local principal with the Hastings Prince Edward School Board. Student nutrition program leads admit they worry about the need for support among students and families with the upcoming summer months on the horizon and over the long-term. Some relief comes knowing that when school resumes, The Grocery Foundation will resume funding to local school nutrition programs including direction donations made by shoppers at local grocery stores during the recent Toonies for Tummies campaign. For more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/food4learning/ https://www.facebook.com/FFTSNP/ https://www.facebook.com/FoodSharingProject/

Student Nutrition Programs in Peel, Halton, Waterloo, Guelph, Wellington, and Dufferin Feeding Thousands of Students Student Nutrition Programs (SNPs) across the province adapted their in-school programs to support families experiencing food insecurity when schools closed mid-March. Thanks to volunteers across various school boards, thousands continue to access healthy foods. United by their common goal and collaborative spirit, organizations and volunteers in Peel, Halton, ...Continue reading

Debbie Zuback is accustomed to helping coordinate the student nutrition program for upwards of 5,500 hundred children each day across Thunder Bay and the surrounding communities. She’s following in her father’s footsteps. He ran the nutrition program at her children’s school for several years until failing health prevented him from continuing on. She’ll admit COVID-19 has required the team at the Red Cross Thunder Bay office to adapt many aspects of their operations , but n...one that will prevent her or her colleagues from helping hungry kids in the community. Alongside community-based organizations including Northwest Community Health Centre, they are helping to feed students from 80 to 90 schools in the region. Prior to COVID-19, students were accessing a nutritious breakfast or morning snack at their local school student nutrition program. The void created by school and program closures is significant, especially for some families that lack transportation or childcare necessary to access a food hamper. We have one goal. Help every hungry child in need, says Zuback who’s quick to mention the work of Roots to Harvest and Norwest Community Partnership. Both organizations are taking lead roles preparing and distributing hampers to students across 7 sites in the city and additional high-risk communities for the past 8 weeks. This week a record 450 hampers filled with shelf-stable milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, cereals, oatmeal, grains and breads were available. A science kit also made its way into some hampers, offering students an opportunity to keep up with their studies while at home. I’m born and raised here. I have close ties to the grocers who help raise funds for school programs years long through the Toonies for Tummies campaign. The Safeway and Metro gift cards provided through the Grocery Foundation will allow us to look after our community when they need it most, says Zuback. The Grocery Foundation has also provided the Red Cross with vouchers enabling them to include granola bars, fruit and veggies and yogurt in the hampers. When asked about the future Zuback notes, We will do what it takes including making sure those who need help know how to access it. We’re thankful to have the food donations, gift cards and volunteers to help keep the kids safe and nourished.