COBS Bread in Kingston raises over $30k for The Food Sharing Project

For the second year in a row, COBS Bread RioCan Centre has made a significant donation to The Food Sharing Project, thanks to its annual Doughnation Day campaign.

The campaign saw the bakery asking for voluntary donations throughout the month of March, and culminated in “Doughnation Day” on Saturday, Apr. 1, 2023, where $2 from the sale of every six-pack of hot cross buns was donated back to The Food Sharing Project.

According to a release from The Food Sharing Project, the Kingston store achieved the highest total donation out of all COBS franchises across the country, with $33,947. Last year the store raised $21,600.

“We are so grateful to the local community who came into the bakery to graciously support The Food Sharing Project,” said Ashley Logan, who owns the local COBS Bread bakery in Kingston.

“All our staff and customers are clearly very passionate about this local charity and the positive impact it has on children throughout our local school system who rely on the food distributed through The Food Sharing Project,” Logan added. “Giving back to the community is a cornerstone of every COBS Bread bakery, and we are so happy to be making a difference to the people and families in this community who benefit from The Food Sharing Project.”

The Food Sharing Project’s mandate is to provide nutritious food to schools so any student who needs to is able to access healthy food. According to the organization, they make it possible for school nutrition program coordinators to order everything they need to provide healthy meal and snack programs at their school, every day, for any student, and then get that food to the school, at no cost.

“We deliver over five tons of food – over $25,000 in value – to over 80 schools across Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox and Addington every week,” said Andy Mills, Executive Director for the Project. According to the release, coordinators at schools provide a variety of snack and meal programs that are accessible to any student.

“Research and our school educators tell us that students who eat nutritious food at school are more engaged in their learning, can focus better on tasks and can have more positive social interactions throughout the day,” stated Brenda Moore, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Food Sharing Project.

Access to healthy food at school can make a critical difference. “We heard from a graduating high school student who told us that they would’ve had to quit school and get a job to support the family income, if food hadn’t been available at school for them and their siblings,” Moore added.

This year has been particularly challenging for The Food Sharing Project, as the demand for food at schools has increased and the prices of food have skyrocketed, the organization stated. “We are so grateful for donations like this – which is a truly amazing amount – to help us manage the growing demand, and increasing costs for healthy food at schools,” said Mills.

Moore added, “We are also grateful that COBS has helped inform their customers about our organization and [the] work we do. Raising awareness about the serious issue of food insecurity in our community is important.”

All 162 COBS Bread bakeries across Canada donated to a local charity on this day and throughout the campaign period. Across Canada, COBS Bread fundraised $466,000 for over 75 different community organizations, according to the release.

In addition to baking fresh bread and treats all day every day, owners of all COBS Bread bakeries are actively involved in their local communities through the End of Day Giving program, which is a cornerstone of the COBS Bread brand. According to the release, all unsold product at the end of the day is donated to local charities based on a pick-up schedule coordinated between the charity or community group and the bakery.