Boiron Canada will match each donation to do more for kids

Montreal, November 12, 2020 – Mikaël Kingsbury, a Breakfast Club of Canada ambassador since 2017, has decided to do even more for children this year. The two-time Olympic medallist and four-time world champion will celebrate every victory during the 2020–2021 season with a $500 donation to BCC. Mikaël hopes to call attention to the organization’s work and make sure a greater number of students start their day with a healthy breakfast.

“It’s important to me to do something to celebrate every win. This year, I want to make each experience that much more special,” said Mikaël Kingsbury, the most decorated mogul skier of all time. “Of all the ingredients it takes to come out on top, perseverance is way up on the list. I want to continue to inspire kids to push themselves, with their schoolwork and with what they love to do. I know that, with the help of Breakfast Club of Canada, more of them will have the energy to make it happen every day.”

Mikaël has also started a fundraising campaign on the BCC platform give.breakfastclubcanada.org/one-win-for-kids to encourage other people to give back. Inspired by his generosity, Boiron Canada has decided to match his donations, dollar for dollar, to double the impact.

“At Boiron Canada, we have been caring about the health and wellness of young Canadians for over 30 years,” said Daniel Dereser, CEO of Boiron Canada. “We are delighted to work together with Breakfast Club of Canada and back Mikaël’s initiative. We hope this will be an incentive for other companies to undertake something similar and give to a cause they believe in.”

“We are very fortunate at BCC to be supported by some amazing ambassadors and partners who are dedicated to the cause of children’s health and education,” said Tommy Kulczyk, General Manager of Breakfast Club of Canada. “This is so important. We firmly believe that, together, we can make sure every single child in the country has access to a nutritious meal in the morning before they head into the classroom.”

Mikaël Kingsbury invites all Canadians to join him and donate to Breakfast Club of Canada via his fundraising page or text CLUB to 20222.

About Breakfast Club of Canada

Accredited by Imagine Canada for its effective governance, the Club provides much more than breakfast: its approach is based on commitment, self-esteem and capacity development using an optimal formula adapted to local needs. Breakfast Club of Canada helps feed more than 257,000 children and youth in 1,887 schools across the country. To learn more, visit breakfastclubcanada.org or follow on FacebookInstagramTwitter and LinkedIn.

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For further information and to schedule an interview with a Breakfast Club of Canada spokesperson, please contact:

Justine Plourde |1-888-442-1217, ext. 3369 | justine.plourde@breakfastclubcanada.org
Nathalie Rochette | 514-404-5660 | nathalie.rochette@ breakfastclubcanada.org

To arrange an interview with Mikaël Kingsbury, please contact:

Dominique Ladouceur | 514-576-2379 | dominique@af-2.com

Montreal, November 19, 2020 – Breakfast Club of Canada (BCC) wishes to thank all its generous donors and partners. While the pandemic is having a major impact on the economy and business activities, the support shown to BCC has not diminished. This support is needed more than ever as food insecurity continues to rise, motivating the Club to set the most ambitious campaign goal in its 25-year history: $10 million. Thanks to its loyal donors and partners, Breakfast Club of Canada succeeded in raising a record $11.7 million to fight food insecurity that affects more than 2 million children in the country every day.

“We are honoured to have the support of Canadians as more and more families, businesses and organizations face problems in the current situation,” acknowledged BCC General Manager Tommy Kulczyk. “We want to take this opportunity to thank our generous donors who, like us, make children’s health, nutrition and education a priority.”

The funds raised will go to support the 250,000 children who use breakfast programs across the country and help meet ever-growing demand, which translates to one in three children arriving hungry at school every morning. Complying with the measures set forth by public health authorities has resulted in a significant increase in costs, especially costs related to food. Despite the record amount collected, these funds will not be enough to meet the need, given the huge impact of the pandemic on the household finances of Canadians, families in particular.

To ensure that the nutritional needs of children are met, the Club works to raise awareness among the country’s policy-makers, advocating for them to make children’s nutrition a priority. Asserting the needs and rights of children is especially important, given that Canada is the only G7 country not to have a national school food program. BCC represented Canada this week at the Global Child Nutrition Forum, stressing the urgency of implementing such a program.

To help establish solid foundations on which to build a national school food program, the Club is rallying financial allies from all spheres of activity. BCC is thankful for all of the financial donations and commitments received to support our mission and would like to acknowledge the following major donors for their generosity during this back-to-school campaign:

Lending their voices and influence, six businesswomen dedicated to children’s academic success and nutrition were part of a newly created campaign cabinet. The Club thanks them for their invaluable contributions to the campaign:

  • Joan Kelley Walker, Chair of the Breakfast Club of Canada Back-to-School Campaign Cabinet; Journalist, Philanthropist and Host
  • Shelley Mayer, Founder and President, Ramp Communications
  • Gail Nyberg, former Executive Director, Daily Bread Food Bank
  • Anne Fortin, Senior Vice President of Direct Distribution and Chief Marketing Officer, Intact Financial Corporation
  • Isabelle Rayle-Doiron, Vice-President, Public Affairs, and General Counsel, Danone
  • Brett Clapperton, Director, Community Investment and LBG Canada, SiMPACT Strategy Group

About Breakfast Club of Canada

Accredited by Imagine Canada for its effective governance, the Club provides much more than breakfast: its approach is based on commitment, self-esteem and capacity development using an optimal formula adapted to local needs. Breakfast Club of Canada helps feed more than 257,000 children and youth in 1,887 schools across the country. To learn more, visit breakfastclubcanada.org or follow on FacebookInstagramTwitter and LinkedIn.

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Media enquiries

For more information and to schedule interviews with Breakfast Club of Canada spokespeople, please contact:

Justine Plourde |1-888-442-1217, ext. 3369 | justine.plourde@breakfastclubcanada.org
Nathalie Rochette | 514-404-5660 |  nathalie.rochette@breakfastclubcanada.org

Results focus on Club’s priorities of advancing child and youth food nutrition and building communities capacity to help

Montreal, November 27, 2020 — For 26 years, Breakfast Club of Canada has been working hard to allow all children and youth to develop to their full potential. To better assess the direct impacts and objectives of the Club’s approach for breakfast program success, the Club launched a three-year social impact study. During the first year, the Club created the framework to identify and evaluate two main objectives that ensure the greatest impact: The advancement of the cause for mitigating food insecurity, and the reinforcement of communities’ capabilities to help.

“Over the years, the Club’s strategies were developed organically, evolving with our learnings and experiences,” says Judith Barry, Co-Founder and Director of Impacts and Sustainable Solutions at Breakfast Club of Canada. “Our contribution to breakfast programs is supporting school communities in their efforts, but because the needs are greater than ever, we wanted to magnify the impacts of our actions to give even more Canadian children a nutritious breakfast every morning. The national consultation that has been carried out in the past months helped us identify the key elements of success, the ones that most benefit children and our stakeholders.”

The data collected during interviews in the first phase of the study shows that the following aspects are most important to the Club’s school nutrition collaborators:

  • The Club has the potential to play a crucial role in the national advancement of the cause by working closely with communities across the country.
  • The Club has the potential to carry its stakeholders’ voices and realities to ensure all implicated partners adapt their support to local community needs.
  • The Club’s collaborators have reported their greater need for resources and agility to help them amplify the reach and potential of their nutrition program.

These first key-learnings will be verified in the coming months through consultations with the Club’s stakeholders to measure how the organization’s support models meet the needs and expectations of the communities.

“Beyond supporting our schools and community partners feeding children every morning, we want to ensure that our contribution really answers the need,” emphasizes Marie-Josée Lapratte, co-director of programs at Breakfast Club of Canada. “By better understanding our place in the ecosystem, we want to reinforce the strengths of our local approach to increase the national impact of breakfast programs.”

On November 27, 2019, Breakfast Club of Canada announced the launch of this first impact study, generously funded through belairdirect’s partnership with the Club and conducted by CREDO, to better assess the direct results, see beyond the benefits of breakfast and allow the Club to adjust its approach to focus efforts where they can add value. With this information, the Club will capitalize on its strengths to maximize its impacts and, if necessary, refocus actions to create the most value for the Club’s network. The next steps in the impact evaluation will allow the Club to understand how the current approach serves the cause of child food insecurity and allow the organization to move closer to its ultimate goal of ensuring all Canadian children have access to a nutritious breakfast every morning.

About Breakfast Club of Canada

Accredited by Imagine Canada for its effective governance, the Club provides much more than breakfast: its approach is based on commitment, self-esteem and capacity development using an optimal formula adapted to local needs. Breakfast Club of Canada helps feed more than 257,000 children and youth in 1,887 schools across the country. To learn more, visit breakfastclubcanada.org or follow us on FacebookInstagramTwitter and LinkedIn.

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For more information or to schedule interviews with a Breakfast Club of Canada spokesperson, please contact:

Tatianna Ducklow |587-897-7430 | tducklow@argylepr.com

Government of Canada had previously announced multimillion-dollar funding package to ensure children and families will continue to have access to food throughout the pandemic

Montreal, December 18, 2020  Today, the Government of Canada revealed the details of a $100-million funding package to continue its commitment to supporting children and families experiencing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of $18.5 million has been allocated to Breakfast Club of Canada through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to feed students across the country. Today’s announcement builds on funding previously announced in April and October 2020 for food banks and local food organizations, including Breakfast Club of Canada.

“Some 250,000 students usually depend on the Club and its partners for a healthy breakfast every school morning, but the total number of children and youth across the country affected by food insecurity is now greater than 2 million,” said Daniel Germain, President and Founder of Breakfast Club of Canada. “We are extremely grateful to be receiving this funding from the Government of Canada to continue to meet the growing demand. At the start of the new school year, breakfast program attendance was up 30% on average across the country and the waitlist for such programs keeps growing.”

The funding committed today will help the Club and its partners support the children who use school food programs across the country. Currently, one in three children starts their school day hungry. The safety measures and necessary program adaptations require additional investment to ensure that children can be delivered meals safely.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity and increased the number of children and families who need support. This funding will allow Breakfast Club of Canada to reach 200,000 more children before September 2021.

As Canada looks to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic, a National School Food Program will be the most effective and sustainable way to fully address the issue of student food insecurity in Canada. Breakfast Club of Canada and its partners look forward to working with the government to make a National School Food Program a reality and making child hunger in Canada a thing of the past. Altogether, in spring and summer2020, the Club and its community partners helped to deliver nutritious food to more than 2 million people, including close to 700,000 children.

About Breakfast Club of Canada

Accredited by Imagine Canada for its effective governance, the Club provides much more than breakfast: its approach is based on commitment, self-esteem and capacity development using an optimal formula adapted to local needs. Breakfast Club of Canada helps feed more than 257,000 children and youth in 1,887 schools across the country. To learn more, visit breakfastclubcanada.org or follow us on FacebookInstagramTwitter and LinkedIn.

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For more information and interview requests:

Nathalie Rochette
Communications Director
Breakfast Club of Canada
nathalie.rochette@breakfastclubcanada.org
514-404-5660

Justine Plourde
Communications Advisor, Public Relations
Breakfast Club of Canada
justine.plourde@breakfastclubcanada.org
1-888-442-1217, ext. 3369

Montreal, February 26, 2021 — A whole new breed of fundraiser made its debut on Saturday, when Breakfast Club of Canada connected virtually with the community as part of a unique online charity event. Canadian platform fundky.live gave audiences the chance to tune into live game action and even have a real-time impact on how things played out on screen. For every donation, spectators received points they could redeem to introduce specific items or monsters into the game. This is the first time this kind of fundraiser has ever been held in Canada.

For the occasion, gamer MsSekky settled in for a 12-hour Minecraft marathon to benefit Breakfast Club of Canada. Spectators could either sit back and watch the adventure unfold or actually get involved by making a donation. In exchange for their contribution, they could influence what happened in the game, for example by purchasing a sword for MsSekky or sending in zombies to keep her on her toes. The initial fundraising target of feeding one child for one year was reached only an hour into the event.

“I had such a great time. Twelve hours of gaming may seem like a lot to some people, but when you’re in it and you have no idea what’s coming next, it just flies by,” said MsSekky. “What I really love is that everyone got into the experience. People who had never played Minecraft in their life were sending me zombies. I would definitely do it all over again.”

The ultimate goal was to raise enough money to feed as many children in Canada as possible, based on the fact that it costs $495 per child per year to run a breakfast program. All proceeds went straight to the Club, and a charitable receipt was automatically issued to donors.

“I decided to do this for the Club because I believe in the importance of education. When children start their school day on a full stomach, there’s a better chance they’ll do well, and that’s amazing,” said MsSekky. “I used to go to a program like that myself back in elementary school. I remember really enjoying it. I have some wonderful memories of those times, so I’d like to make sure that children today can have that same experience in their life.”

To watch a replay of the event: https://fundky.live/en/stream/260/the-fuffle-squad-brickfest.

Initial goal: $495

Total raised: $2,519

  • 800+ breakfasts
  • 500% more than planned

All to help Breakfast Club of Canada.

About Breakfast Club of Canada

Accredited by Imagine Canada for its effective governance, the Club provides much more than breakfast: its approach is based on commitment, self-esteem and capacity development using an optimal formula adapted to local needs. Breakfast Club of Canada helps feed more than 257,000 children and youth in 1,887 schools across the country. To learn more, visit breakfastclubcanada.org or follow us on FacebookInstagramTwitter and LinkedIn.

 

About MsSekky

MsSekky is a Canadian gamer in the Twitch community. She chose to give to Breakfast Club of Canada because she herself received support from a breakfast program when she was younger. She is committed to doing her part to give back. https://www.twitch.tv/mssekky

 

About Fundky LIVE

Fundky.live is the first Canadian platform for online live fundraising (charity streams). Fundky.live makes it possible to live-stream content from YouTube, Twitch and Zoom while collecting donations online in real time. Fundky offers virtual auctions, peer-to-peer campaigns, third-party campaigns, ticket sales and other fundraising products via a single, interconnected suite, enabling a seamless experience for charitable organizations and donors. Fundky is a product of ODE Technologies Inc. Learn more at fundky.com or follow Fundky on FacebookInstagramLinkedInYouTube and Twitter.

 

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For more information and interview requests:

Nathalie Rochette

Communications Director

Breakfast Club of Canada

nathalie.rochette@breakfastclubcanada.org

514-404-5660

 

Jade Bourdages

Managing Director

ODE Technologies – Fundky

jade.bourdages@odetechnologies.com

514-294-6166

We’ve prepared a little something fun for your kids – a maze to find the secret ingredient in a favourite recipe of ours. Click on the thumbnail to download the activity sheet.

Click here to download and print out the PDF file.

Today, 1 in 3 children in Canada is at risk to start school on an empty stomach. That’s 2 million kids in all. You can help us change this statistic with your donation.

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