Canadian charity will supply 200,000+ school meals to 1,200+ at-risk kids internationally

Every 10 seconds, a child loses their life to malnutrition — that’s over 3 million children each year. An estimated 45 million kids suffer from malnourishment every year and this Giving Tuesday and holiday season, Canadian charity Children Believe, aims to #DisruptHunger and support children in communities that need it most, with the help of Canadians and a group of Toronto restaurants.  

Children Believe is dedicated to removing the barriers to education that impede a child’s ability to learn and grow in the classroom and this Giving Tuesday (December 3), the global organization is calling on Canadians to help fight child hunger with a donation of school meals from its Gifts for Good catalogue. By Giving Tuesday, Children Believe’s goal is to raise $100,000 and deliver 217,391 school meals to 1,209 at-risk kids for a school year, to disrupt the holiday noise with classroom chatter.

Disrupt the holiday noise

Giving Tuesday is the global generosity movement harnessing the power of people and organizations to transform communities and this year Children Believe and its supporters will focus on disrupting the noise of the holiday gift-giving season and focus on what truly matters.

“Without proper nourishment, children cannot concentrate in the classroom, leaving them eager to learn but powerless to focus, and so their academics suffer,” says Dr. Belinda Bennet, Chief International Programs Officer, Children Believe. “Every dollar donated towards school lunches through #DisruptHunger helps provide nutritious meals so children can focus in school, supporting their educational and physical development. This Giving Tuesday and throughout the holiday season, we hope Canadians will join us in disrupting the holiday noise and traditional gift-giving to give children access to quality education and a lifetime of choices that are all too often stolen from them.”

Calculating your impact

Canadians can join the movement and see the power of their gift through a new online Impact Calculator. The tool is designed to show the real impact of a gift by translating donation amounts into results. Each donation entered shows a conversion directly into a number of meals it represents, showing how your contribution would support child nutrition and education.

For example:

• $20 provides 42 school meals, supporting one child for 23 per cent of a school year
• $82 provides 176 school meals, feeding one child for a full school year
• A remarkable donation like $2,500 would feed an entire classroom of 30 kids for a school year

Every meal purchased during the #DisruptHunger campaign helps feed vulnerable children in six countries through Children Believe’s school meal program, such as Burkina Faso where a school meal consists of enriched porridge for breakfast and a local dish (rice, fish/ meat, couscous and beans) for lunch.

Dine out to #DisruptHunger

Five local restaurants across the GTA have partnered with Children Believe to help it reach its goal to #DisruptHunger this season. On Giving Tuesday and the week leading up to it, three of The Host Hospitality Group’s restaurants – both Toronto locations of The Host, Mantra by Host and Bhai’s Indian Canteen – invite diners to savour specially crafted prix fixe menu items on December 3, with a portion of proceeds from each sale going to Children Believe. In addition, Latin bakery, Churros 92 will create a special #DisruptHunger dish to show its support with a portion of proceeds going to the initiative.

Nutrition to thrive: Nahuel’s story

For Children Believe program participant Nahuel from Paraguay, access to school lunches meant the nourishment and energy to excel at soccer, his favourite sport that unites his community and empowers him to convey his emotions on the field. Access to nutritious food is difficult in Nahuel’s community and before Children Believe’s programs, his family ate what they could find and what they could afford – meals lacking in necessary nutrition to sustain child development. With program support, Nahuel and his family had the opportunity to receive healthy and balanced food that fueled concentration, improved Nahuel’s studies and gave him the energy to play the game he loves.

“Children around the world are facing discrimination and exploitation, deprived of a quality education and seeing their choices stolen from them, one by one, until they have none,” says Fred Witteveen, CEO, Children Believe. “To the millions of children facing starvation worldwide, the #DisruptHunger initiative’s access to school lunches not only means nourishment, but a chance to break one of the many barriers to education faced by children in crisis in developing countries.”

Make a difference this season

A recent survey[1] by Children Believe reports that more than half (63 per cent) of Canadians prefer to receive a gift that makes a difference to a person in need, and nearly all (95 per cent) agree that depriving children from a healthy diet is unacceptable. This gift-giving season is poised to disrupt the status quo. Gifts that give back, like the gift of school meals, is just one small act that empowers children to thrive both inside and outside of the classroom.

A gift of ‘School Meals’ is included in Children Believe’s ‘Gifts for Good’ catalogue, which features 50+ education-inspired gifts for as little as $25 that break barriers to learning and protect children in crisis from grave dangers like violence, abuse and exploitation. By providing nourishing school lunches to vulnerable children in need, it brings us one step closer in the fight to end child hunger and closer to a world where every child grows to live the life they choose.

 Canadians can join the fight and donate at Childrenbelieve.ca/DisruptHunger.

[1]  ^{About this Study: These findings are from a survey conducted by Children Believe from August 12 to August 14, 2024, among a representative sample of 1,508 online Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The survey was conducted in English and French. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/-2.53 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.}