An annual fundraiser is back for another year, fighting childhood hunger one bowlful at a time.
The Stone Soup fundraiser kicked off Monday, setting the table for the week-long event hosted by The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba (CNCM).
Participating restaurants from across Manitoba have created a signature soup for the fundraiser, with $1 of each bowl going to CNCM.
After that, diners will have a chance to vote on their favourites.
All funds raised will go to support Manitoba school meal and snack programs.
Last year’s event brought in just over $29,000 from individual and corporate donations.
Janelle Wotton, a community dietician with CNCM, said school meal and snack programs are vital for kids to not only have access to food, but also to help build nutritional skills.
“We’re hearing from schools that students are trying fruits and vegetables that they’ve never tried before, or they’re gaining the skills of how to prepare those, so then you can go home and you know how to cut up broccoli or you know how to peel a fruit and serve it to yourself,” she said.
Child hunger continues to be a major concern, as Canada grapples with the fallout of the pandemic and soaring food prices amid inflationary pressures.
According to a report released in October by Food Banks Canada, the number of people using food banks across the country surged to an all-time high in 2022.
The annual report found there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food backs in March 2022 - a figure that was 15 per cent higher than the number of visits in the same month in 2021, and 35 per cent higher than visits in March 2019 before the pandemic hit.
To meet the need, Wotton said this year’s event has expanded throughout the province, in a push to spread the word about the availability of these programs.
“There’s communities that may not know their school is accessing our funding and is offering food to students throughout the day.”
A list of participating restaurants can be found on CNCM’s website.
- With files from the Canadian Press
