Hello Ladies,
Thank you to all who attended our meeting.
The Foster Festival will be presenting next meeting as there was a conflict with them meeting last Thursday with us.
Congratulations to this meeting’s winning charity…. Community Crew. Thank you to Bobbie Corcoran for her nomination.
Community Crew started at Edith Cavell school in Western hill, St. Catharines in 2013 when teachers noticed children coming to school without lunches and they wanted to help. Today over 1500 children in 26 schools within the Niagara Region receive a boxed lunch from Community Crew three days a week. Community Crew continues to expand with a Fort Erie branch just opening this month.
Community Crew is run by a volunteer board of directors and employs five staff. Staff are responsible for sourcing and purchasing food, sourcing and working with corporate donors as well as school boards, school principals and teachers. Principals from schools within Niagara identify children in their schools that are in need. The full time staff and volunteers prepare the lunches and volunteers deliver them to the schools. Students within the school sort the lunches by classroom and deliver the lunches to the children in need making them feel special. Extra care is taken to ensure this is a positive experience for the children. One school even has their grade eight students dress in dark pants and a white shirt like a restaurant server to deliver these special meals.
A lunch usually consists of a wrap, a protein like a chicken finger, piece of ham or a hard boiled egg, carrots, cucumber, a piece of fruit and a snack. The lunch is packed in a good grade box that is recycled and no plastics are used. Some food is purchased and some is donated by local farmers or associations like the Canadian Egg producers. Notes of encouragement are made by volunteers and included in the Tuesday lunch packages.
Covid has increased demand with some schools now requiring double to triple the number of lunches pre COVID.
For the past two years the annual fundraising ball has not taken place although a virtual ball was held last year.
Community crew is dedicated to providing nutritious lunches and hope to children that need it the most. Children that go hungry can’t concentrate so they don’t learn and by providing lunch we are helping students get the education they need to establish a successful life.
Currently an anonymous donor is matching all contributions made up to $60k. To date over $12k has been donated so our donations will be matched dollar for dollar. So our donations will be matched!
To make your donation online go to https://www.communitycrew.
Upcoming meetings will be:
Wednesday, February 23, 2022 (Zoom Meeting)
Wednesday, May 25, 2022 (We are going to try to meet in person and/or by Zoom, whichever you are comfortable doing. Details to follow)
Wednesday, September 28, 2022 (We are going to try to meet in person and/or by Zoom, whichever you are comfortable doing. Details to follow)
Thank you again for all your continued support and bringing new members to join!
Have a safe and joyous holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in 2022!