The Agape Centre currently supports over 1300 children in our Foodbank program.  Over the past year we have expanded our services to fill in the gaps and remove barriers to accessing food for children.  One new program we have implemented is Kids Community Kitchen which is open each morning from 7:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m. for children to access a nutritious breakfast and pack a lunch for school. 
The second program we launched for the 2023-2024 school year was OPERATION BACKPACK thanks to a $20,000 grant through Ecclesiastical Insurance. This program was designed to  provide a free source of nutritious food for children at-risk of being hungry on the weekends.  We partnered with one local elementary school to deliver weekly pre-packed bags of food containing perishable and non-perishable items for snacks, two breakfasts and two lunches. Throughout the school year we successfully provided 109 students living in food insecure households with 4500 packs of food. 
Based on the clear need for this program we would like to offer OPERATION BACKPACK to the students of this school once again.  To date, we have secured $5,500 in funding and have a shortfall of $10,000.  All funds will go directly to purchasing fresh and non-perishable items for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year.

How will completion of this project directly benefit the residents of Cornwall and Area?: OPERATION BACKPACK will remove a barrier for children living in food insecure households.  The success of this program in the 2023-2024 school year clearly identified an immediate need for 109 students in one school alone.  Providing nutritious food and focusing on the health and well being of children at risk of being hungry will benefit many families struggling to keep food on their tables.

Estimated Cost: $10,000

Date of Completion: June 20, 2025

What do you wish everyone knew:   The Agape Centre currently supports over 3500 people monthly in our Foodbank, 1300 of which are children and 300 are senior citizens.  Our numbers have tripled since the pandemic and continue to rise each month.  Our Community Kitchen has expanded to 6 days per week, feeding an average of 150 people a hot meal each day.  We now have two community fridges in our Sharing Shelves program that are stocked each day to provide a meal for anyone in need outside our business hours.

We focus on filling in gaps, removing barriers and ensuring that our most vulnerable citizens receive the supports and services needed to access food and remain housed.