Christmas Fund: How I Can For Kids feeds hungry children when school is out
by Stephanie BabychThere are children in Calgary who depend on school nutritional programs to stay fed throughout the week, but when school is out for the summer they lose access to food.
That’s when I Can For Kids, one of the agencies being supported by the 2019 Christmas Fund, steps in. (For information on how to donate to the 2019 Christmas Fund, please go to: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/the-2019-christmas-fund-agencies or https://calgarysun.com/news/local-news/the-2019-christmas-fund-agencies.)
While watching Good Morning America when she was 11 years old, Sutton Garner learned of the high rates of childhood hunger during the summer. It inspired her to research the issue locally and she discovered about 5,000 kids go hungry in Calgary because of lost access to food at school. She and her mother, Bobbi Turko, began working with local nutrition experts and youth agencies to feed the hungriest kids all summer and, in 2015, I Can For Kids was born.
“Going a summer hungry can put a child two months behind academically,” said Sutton, who is now 15. “It causes serious short- and long-term issues, like behavioural problems as well as physical and emotional problems. Children who have access to proper nutrition do better on standardized tests; their mathematics and reading skills are higher; and, they’re overall healthier.”
By partnering with 30agencies, I Can For Kids delivers food directly to those who need it most in July and August. This summer, 24,102 food packs were delivered with 74,000 meals, 100,000 snacks and 696 cases of fresh fruit, to 90 distribution points in more than 50 communities.
“After our first two partner agencies, it spread by word of mouth and other social service agencies caught wind of what we were doing,” said Turko. “Because there was such a gap in services in the city, we became very popular very quickly.”
I Can For Kids has grown 550 per cent since starting in 2015. Demand from its partner agencies was higher than ever last summer, with 65 per cent of the organizations seeing an increase in food scarcity since 2018.
By providing children with food when they need it, I Can For Kids not only impacts a child’s development but also their family and community.
For example, a 20-year-old woman — who is the sole guardian of her four younger siblings — dropped three of the children off at a youth centre in Ogden during the summer, said Youth Centres of Calgary founder Jane Wachowich. The food packs delivered by I Can For Kids were distributed to the youth and, in this case, the three siblings were fed and took home extra fruit for their family.
“Inspired by the food support in the summertime, one sister — who’s in high school — is now volunteering and making a difference in her own community,” said Wachowich. “She takes the skills she’s learning back to her family where they’re deeply needed.”
Another I Can For Kids partnership involves The Hull Services Patch locations, which received food pack deliveries for people in the poverty reduction program. Community facilitator Perry Cooper said the relief in knowing their children have healthy food is instrumental in helping parents focus on finding work.
“I Can For Kids isn’t asking for financial statements or monthly income. They always say they don’t want there to be any barriers so whoever asks for some when they need it, we certainly provide it,” said Cooper.
I Can For Kids has also partnered with the Calgary Police Service in running Pop-up Play Days where youth can engage with officers and pick up food bags. The organization also supplies CPS with grab bags that officers have on hand, so they can help address food issues they encounter.
“If we happen to arrest the breadwinner in a house and know a stressor for that family is going to be, ‘What will we eat tomorrow?’, we can run to our patrol car and offer them grab bags,” said CPS Insp. Michael Watterston. “It’s sad that kids are supposed to be having the best time of their lives during summer holidays, but you know that at the forefront of their mind is hunger.”
Turko said support from the Christmas Fund would go a long way in helping the agency meet its target of delivering more food packs next summer.
“We would love to meet the needs of everyone we are currently serving, as well as those who are sitting on our waiting list,” she said.
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HOW TO DONATE TO THE 2019 CHRISTMAS FUND: The 2019 Christmas Fund is honoured to continue its 28-year tradition of giving back to the community. More than $27 million has been raised for local agencies and charities in Calgary over the years, via this fund that was started by journalists in the Calgary Herald newsroom.
New this year, donors will be able to choose which of the selected agencies they’d like to support and to send their funds direct to these agencies. It’s a change that allows donors to better target their donations and provides Christmas Fund agencies with the opportunity to communicate directly with those donors. Postmedia Calgary has selected the following worthy agencies as recipients of the 2019 fund. Please help us help them.
To donate, please click on the websites of the agencies that you’d like to support. Or, feel free to give them a call for more details.
I Can for Kids
403-815-9604
Last summer, I Can for Kids provided 64,000 meals to hungry kids. Childhood hunger is real in Calgary, especially during the summer. Too many children live with food insecurity, and more go hungry every year. Kids who go hungry even just part of the year may never reach their full potential. It harms their physical and mental health and can make them feel isolated and stigmatized. I Can for Kids provides non-perishable food packs, fresh produce and other nutritious items to food-insecure children and youth during the summer months, when gaps in Calgary’s current food-support system would otherwise leave them hungry.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary
boysandgirlsclubsofcalgary.ca/donate
403-520-1547
Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary provides a successful youth housing and shelters stream. It offers 11 programs and operates the only youth shelter in Calgary. Of that, our Avenue 15 is the largest youth homeless shelter in the city. With the goal of helping youth experiencing homelessness gain the skills to return to their families or to live independently in the community, programs offer a comprehensive support system to help youth permanently end their experience of homelessness.
Calgary Seniors’ Resource Society
403-266-6200
For more than 23 years, Calgary Seniors’ Resource Society (Calgary Seniors) has provided a depth of support that creates meaningful and effective change in the overall well-being and quality of life for seniors in our city. What makes this agency so unique is that they combine outreach, with volunteer programming, and community engagement. Calgary Seniors helps potentially at-risk seniors achieve and maintain their quality of life. What this looks like varies greatly from person to person, which is why the agency is innovative and creative in the programs and services offered.
Fresh Start Recovery Centre
403-387-6266
Since 1992, Fresh Start has been helping individuals and family members recover from addiction, find the courage to change and learn to use the tools they need to live happy, productive lives in recovery. Today, it operates in a purpose-built facility that is one of the largest residential treatment centres in Alberta. Addiction has no cure, but it has a solution. That solution is recovery. Fresh Start shows people how to live a life free from alcohol and other drugs. Its goal is to send fathers back to their kids, sons back to their families and to restore them back into community as productive and content men.
Made By Momma
587-890-3869
Made by Momma is a grassroots non-profit organization that helps families facing situations of adversity and crisis by providing healthy prepared meals, wholesome baked goods, baby essentials, children’s items, supportive in-home visitors and other services to allow mothers the time they need to rest, recover and focus on their families and their health. Because the group is 100 per cent volunteer-run, operating costs are kept low, and the effectiveness of donated dollars/ items very high.
YW Calgary
403-263-1550
YWCA Calgary is dedicated to breaking cycles of domestic abuse, homelessness, and poverty. Our programs and services are designed to help vulnerable women find stability, then build the skills and confidence they need to make permanent, positive change in their lives. We also offer programs for children and men, as well as services to help women and men overcome language barriers. The YW operates the Sheriff King Home, which offers a safe place for women and children fleeing violence as they heal, and continued support as they plan for the next stage in their lives.