Over 163,000 children in British Columbia experience food insecurity every year.
1 in 5 children in British Columbia grows up living below the poverty line making it the highest poverty rate in Canada.
The high cost of living: rent, household expenses and childcare, creates crisis for families in our community. Basic needs like food, shelter and warmth are sadly often compromised.
Food banks help, but many families still depend on school breakfast, lunch and snack programs to meet their children’s baseline nutritional needs. In 2015 CFAX Santas Anonymous Society added food insecurity to its funding priorities.
Backpack Buddies
Hunger does not distinguish between the days of the week or the time of year. Santas Anonymous is proud to help Backpack Buddies add more local children to the weekend meal program through BC schools. The program is offered at 9 schools in the greater Victoria area to provide students with a backpack full of meals for the weekend. This year Santas was able to grant Backpack Buddies with a $20,000 grant.
Along with Santas original grant we are proud to announce an additional $5,000 grant to ensure 5 additional students were removed from the waitlist and go home with food every weekend.
Burnside Gorge Community Association
The increasing cost of living has presented many challenges for local families…
Burnside Gorge Community Association has augmented the stress of food insecurity by providing 100 families with a food hamper each week – but funding has elapsed and the need still exists.
CFAX Santas Anonymous Society has stepped in to help cover this need with a $20,000 grant.
Central Middle School – Healthy Snack for Hungry Kids program
Children who arrive to class hungry often lose productivity, are more likely to have poorer health, make slower gains in math and reading, along with higher levels of anxiety and depression. Children at Central Middle School have access to the breakfast and lunch program, but anxiety grows as the end of the school day approaches and hunger returns. The Healthy Snacks for Hungry Kids program offers children apples and cheese to help bridge the gap of hunger. Santas has been proud to support this initiative by providing over $88,000 worth of grants over the years.
Camp Subsidies: When CFAX Santas Anonymous provides subsidies for participation in spring and summer camps for local children and youth – the subsidy also includes a budget for a healthy snack for children. Many children that attend day camps arrive without food.
Ukrainian Cultural Centre - When CFAX Santas Anonymous heard about new families moving to the greater Victoria due to the war in Ukraine, they knew they needed to step up and offer a helping hand. CFAX Santas Anonymous is proud to have been able to donate grocery food cards to new Ukrainian families in order to make sure they had food on the table.
Community Living Victoria - Community Living Victoria is the largest non-profit community living service provider on Vancouver Island that provides a range of support services to children, youth and adults with intellectual disabilities. CFAX Santas is proud to be able to provide Community Living Victoria with emergency food gift cards to ensure there is food on the table.