Live, Learn and Lead: The Eastwood Food Project Kitchener, ON

We need your support to help Eastwood Collegiate Institute start a conversation about food and the school’s meal voucher program with students and staff. This project will seed student-led activities within Eastwood Collegiate Institute and its surrounding neighborhood related to food access and security.

Need: $5000

"When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied." — Herophilus

Research has proven that hungry young people are poor learners - a hungry or malnourished student is more likely to be angry, listless and disengaged. Too many students at Eastwood Collegiate Institute are not getting the nutrition they need and we don’t have enough meal vouchers to meet demand. We’re determined to meet this need and to start shrinking it over time.

We need your support to help Eastwood Collegiate Institute start a conversation about food and the school’s meal voucher program with students and staff. Eventually, we imagine engaging parents, alumni and neighbours in activities that will help increase access to nutritious food and to enable learning about food-related environmental, economic and social issues while strengthening our sense of community.

Eastwood is a 53-year old public secondary school in the east end of Kitchener, Ontario. It has a student population of 1,380. Two specialized arts programs are a draw for exceptionally talented students from across Waterloo Region. Almost a third of the student body was born outside of Canada and are attracted by its English as a Second Language program. Students come from more than 50 countries and speak as many different languages.

The Eastwood community is known throughout the region for these remarkable strengths and also for the significant challenges faced by many students due to low family income. Access to healthy food is one of these challenges, especially since eating habits are formed in the adolescent years. Knowledge of the food chain and how it is linked local social, economic and environmental issues can empower young people to play their part in improving the health of their friends, community and planet.

We will use this money to seed student-led activities within the school and neighbourhood related to food access and security as well as understanding the connection between food, the local economy and the environment. An emphasis will be placed on forming leaders, benefiting from the diversity of the Eastwood community, and deepening every student’s sense of belonging through these activities.