Event Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Sodexo and Ottawa Food Bank serve over 23,000 summer camp lunches to Ottawa’s children in need

(Ottawa, ON) Once again, more than 770 children in the Ottawa area will benefit from a summer camp lunch program provided by Sodexo Foundation in partnership with the Ottawa Food Bank.

Throughout July and August, Sodexo employees volunteer their time to prepare over 400 healthy lunches each day which add to lunches provided and distributed by the Ottawa Food Bank to 18 community day camps This initiative, Feeding Our Future®, is the summer component of the Ottawa Food Bank’s KickStart Program, which provides nutritious meals and snacks to children in school meal programs and homework clubs during the school months.

“All children, regardless of their family’s financial situation, should be able to enjoy their summer camp experience and not be distracted by the feeling of hunger,” says Michael Maidment, Executive Director of the Ottawa Food Bank. “It is imperative that all our children have access to healthy and nutritious food and thanks to our partnership with Sodexo, we’re taking the steps to make that possible.”

Children participating in Feeding Our Future® in Ottawa have also been invited by Sodexo to a day of food, fun and activities at the Canada Agriculture Museum on July 16^th. “Sodexo is a proud partner of the Ottawa Food Bank and we’re pleased to host this annual event for children. Our employee volunteers work hard to make the BBQ a successful one and it’s extremely rewarding for them to experience the children’s gratitude,” says Robert Gendron, Director of Operations for Sodexo.

More than 5.5 million people, most of them children, are at risk of hunger on a daily basis in Canada. The Sodexo Foundation supports innovative programs to help children and families who are at risk of hunger. Since Feeding Our Future’s inception in 2000, Sodexo has provided more than 1 million free summer lunches to hungry children in Canada.

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About Sodexo in Canada

Sodexo has been delivering On-Site Services in Canada for over 40 years. Recognized as a strategic partner, Sodexo Canada has consolidated its position by providing a range of Quality of Life Services for clients, their employees and visitors in the corporate, education, healthcare and remote sites segments. Delivering food and facilities management services for over 200 clients, Sodexo is a market leader in Canada in terms of revenue and consumers served, and has been recognized as a top employer for the past four consecutive years.  Sodexo Canada is proud to have created the Sodexo Foundation, an independent charitable organization that has donated more than 1 million meals to at risk youth in Canada since it was founded in 2000.

About the Ottawa Food Bank

The Ottawa Food Bank is the Ottawa Region’s central emergency food assistance organization.  Through its 140 member agencies, the Ottawa Food Bank provides emergency food assistance to nearly 50,000 people each month, 37 per cent of whom are children. The KickStart program provides more than 125,000 meals and snacks a year in 29 schools, at 19 after-school programs, and in 18 summer day camps to children from low-income families.
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