Grant was a “financial lifeline” for Mary Street Community School
Posted: July 8, 2026
Categories: nourish to flourish
Mary Street Community School, located in the Durham Region of Ontario, serves a vibrant student population of 222 children from Kindergarten through Grade 8. While our school community is tight-knit and resilient, it is also situated within one of the most socio-economically marginalized areas in the region. According to the Ontario Marginalization Index, 98% of our families experience severe material deprivation and struggle to meet basic daily needs. For many of our students, food insecurity is a harsh daily reality.
In September, Mary Street Community School was awarded a $1,000 “nourish to flourish” grant. This crucial funding was utilized to directly supplement our comprehensive student nutrition initiatives, which include our daily breakfast program, school-wide daily snack bins, and an on-demand emergency lunch program.
Before receiving this grant, rising grocery costs threatened our capacity to consistently provide fresh, nutrient-dense options. The “nourish to flourish” funding acted as a financial lifeline, allowing us to successfully sustain our food programs for the entire 10-month school year without interruption. The daily impact of this funding cannot be overstated. Every single morning, the grant helped us serve between 20 and 30 hot, nourishing breakfasts to students who arrived hungry. Throughout the instructional day, it supplied 222 healthy snacks daily—ensuring that every single student in the building, regardless of their circumstances, had immediate access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains right at their desks. Furthermore, the funding sustained our on-demand lunch program, providing dignified, stigma-free lunches to 5 to 10 students each day who would have otherwise gone without.
The primary impact of this project extends far beyond simple caloric intake; it directly influences classroom engagement, emotional regulation, and academic success. When children have reliable access to wholesome food, their bodies are nourished, their anxiety is reduced, and their minds are ready for learning. As one classroom teacher observed:
“Before we stabilized our daily snack bins this year, I spent the first hour of every day managing low energy, headaches, and behavioural outbursts rooted entirely in hunger. Having a reliable, healthy food source in the room has transformed our learning environment. The students are focused, regulated, and ready to participate because they know their next meal is guaranteed.”
An initiative of this scale truly “takes a village,” and its success relies entirely on our dedicated team. We would like to explicitly spotlight our incredible Apple Schools Coordinator, Lindsay Jones, whose valiant leadership enabled us to recruit and organize 10 school staff members to supervise and execute these programs daily. Alongside her, our remarkable school secretary, Mrs. Nugent, volunteered her time to manage the complex logistics of inventory, budgeting, and purchasing. Their champion efforts ensured that every dollar of the $1,000 grant was maximized to directly benefit our kids.
The generosity of Farm to Cafeteria Canada, Farm Boy and Sustain Ontario has provided our students with the equitable foundation they deserve. It has fostered a school culture where nutrition is viewed as a fundamental human right, ensuring that poverty does not dictate a child’s capacity to learn, grow, and thrive. We are profoundly grateful for this partnership and the lasting, positive footprint it has left on our school community this year.