Student Nutrition Ontario, Timmins and District covers a wide geographic area in Northern Ontario faces unique distribution challenges, especially for our more rural schools. To help address these issues we created a series of hubs where food can be delivered and picked up by surrounding schools. Located in Timmins, Temiskaming Shores, Kirkland Lake, Hearst, Kapuskasing, Iroquois Falls and Cochrane, these seven hubs serve 78 out of 84 schools in our region and reaches over 16,000 students. Each hub is equipped with a large fridge and four currently have freezers with the rest expected to receive freezers by the beginning of the next school year.
These hubs not only help with distribution, but offer other advantages:
- We are able to purchase larger quantities of products to deliver to each hub as opposed to individual schools creating opportunities for discounted, bulk purchasing of goods
- Allows us to purchase a greater variety of products thanks to increased fridge and freezer space such as cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables, Sweets from the Earth, eggs, etc.
- With these new hubs we have the potential of creating partnerships with local farmers who are unable to deliver to individual schools but could deliver to one location in their area.
Donated goods such as yogurt, applesauce, eggs and cheese are received by one of our vendors who normally would charge for the delivery of these products, however, our hubs allow us to purchase more items for all schools, thus eliminating delivery costs, and further helping to sustain our programs.
Testimonial
“The school staff at the hub locations have been awesome! They’ve been a huge help with accepting and properly storing all the items. Some of the “hub school” staff even drop off the orders themselves to their surrounding schools, while others call the surrounding schools to let them know the delivery was made and they can now pick up their number of allotted cases. This has been a tremendous help and a huge thank you goes out to all of you” – Chantal Dugas, SNP Lead for Timmins and District
This initiative bridges the gab between different schools and different school boards, streamlining communication across our diverse network. Because our hubs operate within various school boards, including different languages, they serve as focal points for regional food distribution. This collaboration strengthens community ties and upholds our core philosophy: ensuring every student has universal access to healthy food, regardless of their social or financial background.
