COBS Bread Kingston raises over $20k for The Food Sharing Project

Thanks to generous fund matching from COBS Bread Kingston, The Food Sharing Project will be investing $21,600 toward their mission of getting healthy food to students at schools, and to families of vulnerable students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ashley Logan, franchisee of the COBS location in the Rio Can centre, made the cheque presentation to Andy Mills, Executive Director of The Food Sharing Project, on Friday, Apr. 9, 2021.

“We decided to partner with The Food Sharing Project, as it is such an important local charity that strives to ensure children in our community are getting the food they need and may otherwise go without while at school. The funds raised will go directly to this charity and impact our local community,” said Logan. ”Giving back to the community is a cornerstone of every COBS Bread bakery, and we are so pleased to make a difference to the people and families in this community who benefit from The Food Sharing Project.”

On Saturday, Mar. 27, 2021, COBS Bread Kingston hosted a “Doughnation Day” where $2 from the sale of every six pack of Hot Cross Buns was donated to The Food Sharing Project. COBS Bread Kingston raised $10,817, which Logan was initially told was the highest amount raised by any COBS franchise across Canada. Unfortunately, due to the time zones, a bakery in western Canada raised slightly more, and the fund matching the COBS founders were providing did not come to the local franchise.

Not to be undone by this news, Logan decided to personally match the donation raised by the community.

“Because of the overwhelming support from our customers and the changing climate making it even more difficult for charities to raise funds this year, I decided I would match the donations raised,” she said.

Overall, COBS Bread Kingston raised $21,600 to support the work of The Food Sharing Project in getting healthy food to vulnerable students and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers were also invited to donate to The Food Sharing Project at COBS Bread Kingston from February 25th through April 7th any time they made a purchase, according to a release from The Food Sharing Project.

The Food Sharing Project has been providing food to schools in our community for almost 40 years. With the support of the Ontario Student Nutrition Program, in the 2019-2020 school year, over 16,000 students in 88 schools were provided with healthy foods including fresh fruits and vegetables, according to the release. Thousands of students are fed daily, and, since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, The Food Sharing Project has been providing supplemental boxes of healthy foods to families of most economically vulnerable students.

“Research tells us that nourished students are more engaged in their learning,” said Brenda Moore, Chair of the Food Sharing Project. “Our goal is to provide the food for healthy snacks and meals to all students, regardless of need. Students can be hungry for a number of reasons, and Food Sharing Project nutrition programs are open to all students. We are grateful for COBS Bread Kingston for their commitment to supporting fresh, healthy food getting into the hands of young people in our community, so they can experience all that school has to offer.”

COBS Bread is well known for its scratch baking, range of traditional and artisan breads, as well as sweet and savoury treats such as scones, croissants, and danishes. 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. All unsold product at the end of the day in Kingston is donated to the LionHearts, a charitable organization that then redistributes the product to over 25 different local charities.