The Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington’s Food & Friends Program hosted the Wellington County Live Free celebration breakfast at Elora Public School last Wednesday. This breakfast helped kick-off the Help Kids Live Free from Hunger Campaign that raises much needed funds and awareness for our local schools’ student nutrition programs.  Approximately 600 students and their families, staff and invited community guests attended this exciting event, sponsored by Ontario Student Nutrition Services.

Every day, many children in our community live without the basic necessities that most of us take for granted. They lack warm homes, food to eat or a caring person to ensure they have what they need to grow and achieve a bright future.

Bobbi Turner, Student Nutrition Program Manager for the Children’s Foundation, commented that, “Often these children are sent to school without the proper nutrition to allow them to focus in their classes. Put simply, they are too hungry to learn. Studies have shown that children who are hungry do not perform as well as others in school.”

Live Free is an annual fundraising campaign that takes place in schools throughout Dufferin, Wellington and Guelph. Every dollar raised by the Live Free Campaign supports students through the Children's Foundation’s 107 Food & Friends student nutrition programs, feeding over 15,000 local students in our communities. The funds raised during this campaign help our children and youth have a better start to their day of learning.

There is still time to donate to the Live Free Campaign and help increase a child’s success at school! Visit www.livefreewgd.ca/donate and choose a specific school to direct your donation to, or choose to support the school most in need.

Together we can help bring healthy food to hungry minds! To find out more about Food & Friends and other Children’s Foundation programs, visit www.childrensfoundation.org.