Floradale Public School partners with Sai Dham Food Bank
Posted: July 6, 2026
Categories: nourish to flourish
Floradale Public School is a school of 650 students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 in the heart of Cooksville in Mississauga, Ontario. According to our most recent MEI data, 89% of families at Floradale are in the highest economic vulnerability. This has been historically true for the community; as an example, during the pandemic, Floradale was preparing Nutrition Packages for 122 families every week, offering pick-up at the school or delivery to their homes. In addition, Floradale now receives students from a Polycultural Centre where many newcomer refugees are living, and we are finding that students from this location are expressing a higher need for nutrition throughout the day.
We are able to provide nutritious items to all students daily from 8:55 – 9:10am at grab-and-go as part of our Breakfast program. This is just before our school day starts and students drop by to pick up a healthy item prepared by a team of educators to start their day. At the beginning of this process, the team was focused on expanding our garden with the grant. While we have been able to use some funds to support this, the most urgent need shifted this school year.
As a school with families facing food insecurity, students looking for snacks to sustain them throughout the day as they became hungry mid-day due to slim lunchbox options, and the realization that our Breakfast program was not enough to support our school community, we looked to the community. While Sai Dham Food Bank is not close to Floradale, it was a community partner that was offering us their help. In the late fall, Floradale connected with the team at Sai Dham Food Bank in Etobicoke – more than 30 minutes away. We were able to secure Nutrition Packages from the food bank if we were able to pick up every week. This began the weekly trek to Sai Dham Food Bank every Friday morning to pick up 40 Nutrition packages – 20 perishable and 20 non-perishable packages with nutritious offerings to support families and our Breakfast program. The grant has helped us to supplement the Breakfast program and provide equipment that helps to make preparation efficient but also allows options to be more varied. The equipment has included toasters and blenders, and a new fridge to store fresh, nutritious options for students.
Every Friday student and staff would support the unloading and sorting of the bags of fresh and pantry foods provided. Emails would be sent out to the school community that packages were available for pick up. It was also offered in the emails that any families who could not come until the end of the school day could request for a package to be set aside. Soon, requests and need were outnumbering the packages available. Sai Dham Food bank supported this need by providing us with 80 packages – 40 perishable and 40 non-perishable! These too are quickly distributed. Food items such as fresh fruit and vegetables, staples such as rice and pasta, and ethnic offerings that reflected our school population were well received.
What the “nourish to flourish” grant has allowed Floradale to do is provide us with the funds needed to secure the equipment necessary for efficient distribution, sorting, and storage capabilities in a busy, space-limited school. The fridge allows us to keep perishable food fresh for families, and the carts allow us to distribute the food in a manner that is respectful and anonymous and keeps the food safe.
We see the difference it makes for families and are very grateful – we hope to continue!
Check out this YouTube video featuring Principal Erin Dearie: https://youtube.com/shorts/afJ4vmFMvgI?si=Nzh8sdyvgcmgeTGy