Experiencing New Joys: Leah Dube

We often hear stories about the positive impact that our Food & Friends student nutrition programs have on the many students that we feed, however these positive benefits can often reach beyond the children and also support our many volunteers who give so generously of their time.

Leah Dube is the program coordinator and parent volunteer of the JD Hogarth Public School’s student nutrition program. She, along with 20 other volunteers, provides a healthy snack program every day, as well as offers a wonderful salad bar program to the students three days per week. Leah has been providing a variety of healthy food options to the children for over a year now, and really loves the smile that it puts on the kids’ faces. She also understands the importance of healthy eating in order to improve the learning capacity for the many students at JD Hogarth. However, the benefits the program has provided in return for Leah, have made a big difference in her daily life.

“Having Autism Spectrum Disorder, I’ve struggled over the years with social interactions and overall involvement in the community,” Leah explained. “After challenging myself to take on this program coordinator position, it’s allowed me to make new friends and to develop my skills during group encounters. It has also encouraged me to take the initiative to get out of my bubble and experience new joys that we all take for granted.”

Leah is also quite skilled when it comes to being frugal. Her price-matching abilities and keen eye for finding great deals, have saved the student nutrition program over $8,000 last year. When funding dollars need to be stretched to afford quality, healthy food for the students – Leah always pulls through!

A huge Children’s Foundation thank you goes out to Leah and her amazing team of volunteers for helping to bring healthy food to hungry minds.