Grains for Healthy Brains Cereal Drive

THUNDER BAY – The second annual ‘Grains for Healthy Brains’ Cereal Drive aims to collect boxes of hot and cold cereal to support school nutrition programs in Thunder Bay and the district. The Red Cross Student Nutrition Program provides funding to schools to operate free breakfast, lunch, or snack programs while promoting nutritious food, encourage positive eating habits and attend school ready to learn.

Schools will be collecting cereal from Monday September 19th – Friday September 23rd; the cereal they collect for their school will stay at their school. The Red Cross Student Nutrition Program will also be hosting a Community Day at Metro on Arthur and James Street on Saturday, September 24th to promote the program and collect more boxes for the schools. The boxes collected from the Community Day will be distributed to schools in Thunder Bay and District.

“Our goal for the Cereal Drive is to collect 1600 boxes of hot and cold cereal between participating schools and the Community Day. Last year, we collected 1031 so we have aimed higher this year. The cereal drive’s purpose is to raise awareness and collect boxes of healthy cereal to support each program.” Rebecca Snyder, Community Development Coordinator, Student Nutrition Program.

“It’s been demonstrated that when a child has a nutritious breakfast they attend school ready to learn. Though we provide funding to get Student Nutrition Programs off the ground, they really are community owned and operated initiatives. Community drives like this can be a big part of the success of these programs.” Andrena Toth, Lead Coordinator, Student Nutrition Program.