FEEDING THE HUNGRY
Charity helps children
There 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.
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 30 agencies, 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.
“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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To donate to the 2019 Christmas Fund, call 403-235-7481, go to calgaryherald.com/christmasfund, or see the coupon on this page.
(Going hungry) causes serious short- and long-term issues, like behavioural problems as well as physical and emotional problems.