Q&A

COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Learn more about the measures that have been adopted by Breakfast Club of Canada to help protect children from food insecurity during this crisis.

First off, we are very sorry to hear that you and your family are going through a tough time right now.

In an effort to avoid overlap and duplication as we respond to the current situation, we decided to make our support, and the support of our network, available through various community organizations across the country with established distribution channels.

We are currently receiving requests from organizations across the country. We invite you to reach out to the community organizations and food banks in your town. If you don’t know which ones are closest to you, you can contact your municipality to guide you. In addition to this, we recommend consulting the Food Banks of Canada and Salvation Army websites as they are viable sources of information, so is Food banks of Quebec.

As soon as the closures were announced, we saw to it that the perishable goods in our breakfast program network were redistributed to local organizations.

Currently, we are working with the federal and provincial governments and community organizations across Canada to pool resources and find solutions to support families during this crisis.

An emergency fund has also been created to reallocate funds that are normally earmarked for breakfast programs.

We have been asking partners across the country to help us raise $5 million or more to reach out to as many food-insecure families and children as possible. The demand thus far has been overwhelming: we have received more than 320 applications for a total of $9 million in funding.

We are proud to say that many partners have already stepped up and contributed to the fund, including belairdirect/Intact Assurance, Danone, Kellogg Canada and National Bank, to name but a few.

To contribute, go to the Emergency Fund section of our website.

Even if the Club continues to support the community organizations that received a special allocation so far, we are no longer receiving new applications. If your organization needs support, please apply to the Emergency Community Support Fund created by the Government of Canada.

If your school wants to apply to open your own breakfast program, please apply in the Programs section of our website.

If you yourself need a helping hand, contact your local food bank.

A number of solutions have been introduced across Canada. A portion of the funding is being reallocated to food banks, based on what we know about the level of local needs. Schools have also received some of these funds to keep the service they offer running, only in a modified format that is consistent with current public health and safety guidelines.

To control the spread o COVID-19, we collaborate with respected community organizations that are familiar with and rigorously apply hygiene and sanitation measures associated with handling food as well as the requirements developed by public health authorities during this pandemic.

If you are able to, you can donate to the BCC emergency fund here.

Given the current school closures, we are not asking for volunteers right now, but you can fill out an online application and we’ll be in touch when things get back to normal.

If you want to lend a hand to food distribution operations in your community, we encourage you to check with your local food bank about volunteering with them so children in your area don’t go hungry.

If you have food to donate, your local food bank is also the best place to reach out to.