Children need proper nutrition throughout the year
The driving force behind a youth food program is just a kid herself.
Only 13, Sutton Garner and her mom Bobbi Turko co-founded I Can for Kids Foundation.
On a mission to end summer childhood hunger in Calgary, they spend 10 weeks in the summer delivering food packs to partner agencies and children in need.
Last summer, 12,000 food packs were delivered to 70 distribution points across the city.
The food packs are designed to be nutritious and simple, for those children responsible for other siblings.
“You just tend to get so busy in life that come June, your focus is somewhere else and you forget that all of those thousands of children who rely on school nutrition programs lose access,” Turko said.
Sometimes those food packs are all some youth get to eat in a day.
“I Can For Kids helped me because I ran out of food at home and this gives me a chance to be able to get through a couple more days ... It’s great that fruit was a part of I Can For Kids this year, being homeless for years, it’s hard to find healthier options for food,” said one young client of Wood’s Homes EXIT Outreach.
Partner agencies include the Community Kitchen Program, Calgary Housing Company, the Brenda Strafford Centre, Wood’s Homes, Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary and the City of Calgary.
The I Can For Kids Foundation is one of 12 beneficiaries of the 2017 Herald Christmas Fund.