Hamilton is one of Canada's most unequal cities. While it is home to thriving neighbourhoods and growing prosperity, Ward 4 tells a different story. Ward 4 is one of Hamilton's most economically vulnerable communities. Food bank usage in the city has surged, with Hamilton's Food Bank reporting record demand. These are not children in a distant country. They are our neighbours.

Teachers see it firsthand. Students arrive in the morning having eaten nothing. Young people who depend entirely on school-based programs for their only reliable nutrition of the day. Many students are unable to afford even small moments of connection, like grabbing a coffee or snack with friends, leaving them feeling isolated from their peers.

Many students at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School depend on the school for their only daily nutrition, and over 70 students remain on a waitlist with no access to food support at all. That is why every Thursday, we send 100 students home with a hamper built to carry them through the weekend. Not charity. Not a handout. A signal that says: you matter, you belong, and no one here is going to let you go hungry.

Nearly 1 in 3 young children suffers from malnutrition, and only a small percentage receive the nutrients they need to grow and develop properly. Without consistent access to food, children face fatigue, weakened immunity, and long-term developmental challenges that can follow them for life.

For the students we serve, this reality is immediate and personal. Many arrive at school having eaten little, or nothing at all. In these conditions, a child cannot concentrate on a lesson when they are thinking about their next meal. They cannot fully participate, engage, or dream about their future.

For the children at our school in Haiti, the meal HHH provides every single school day is often the only reliable nutrition they will receive. Not a supplement to breakfast at home. Not a top-up after a family dinner.

When we feed a child, we give them the chance to become everything they are capable of being. That is what your support makes possible.

Because no child should have to choose between learning and surviving.