COBS raises over $34,000 for The Food Sharing Project

COBS Bread RioCan Centre Kingston raised $34,769 during COBS Bread’s second annual Doughnation Day campaign. On Saturday, April 2, 2022, $2 from the sale of every six pack of hot cross buns was donated back to The Food Sharing Project. Customers were also invited to donate to The Food Sharing Project from March 3 through April 20 any time they made a purchase.

“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.”

Last year, the local COBS Bread raised $21,600 at the inaugural Doughnation Day event.

“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,” Logan expressed.

According to a release from The Food Sharing Project, their mandate is to provide nutritious food to schools, so any student who needs it can access healthy food. They make it possible for school nutrition program coordinators to order everything they need to provide healthy meals and snack programs at their schools, every day, for any student, and then gets that food to the school, at no cost.

“We deliver over five tons of food – over $20,000 in value – to over 80 schools across KFL&A every week,” said Andy Mills, The Food Sharing Project’s Executive Director. “Coordinators at schools provide a variety of snack and meal programs that are accessible to any student.”

Brenda Moore, Chair of the Board of Directors, said that, “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. As one young student said, ‘I don’t know why, but math is just easier when I’m not hungry.’”

As the prices of food, gasoline, and utilities rise, more and more students are accessing in-school student nutrition programs, according to the release.

“We’ve seen the demand from schools grow 25 per cent since school started in September,” said Mills. “We are so grateful for donations like this – which is a truly astounding amount – to help us manage the growing demand for healthy food at schools.”

Moore adds, “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 145 COBS Bread bakeries across Canada donated to a local charity on Saturday and throughout the campaign period. According to the release, COBS Bread raised $338,538 for over 75 different community organizations across Canada.

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, 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. 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.