Food bank usage is at the highest level in Canadian history, with more than 1.5 million visits in one-month last year. One third of food bank clients are children, a devastating number when they only represent approximately 20 per cent of the general population. As part of its ongoing commitment to alleviating hunger for children in Canada, Subway® Canada is launching its milestone 5th annual Never Miss Lunch® donation day on Wednesday, June 21, committing its largest donation yet to help provide 185,000 packs, this year. For each Footlong sold on June 21st, $1 will support hunger relief initiatives in over 200 communities from coast to coast to coast.
In partnership with Food Banks Canada, Never Miss Lunch® ensures kids can access fresh fruits and vegetables in the summer months when critical school-based nutrition programs end. This year, Subway® Canada has set out to help Food Banks Canada deliver more than 185,000 fresh food packs to kids in need in Canadian communities just like yours. In 2022, the program delivered 175,000 healthy food packs.
Rising Food Insecurity Across Canada
According to Statistics Canada, in 2022, 6.9 million Canadians across ten provinces (including almost 1.8 million children) lived in a food-insecure household – a notable increase from the almost 1.4 million children who lived in food-insecure homes in 2021.
“Almost 6 million people in Canada lived in food insecure households in 2020. Hundreds of thousands more are now relying on Canada’s food banks this year. These are numbers almost too big to grasp,” says Kirstin Beardsley, Chief Executive Officer, Food Banks Canada. “This is why we are grateful for loyal partners like Subway Canada who are doing their part to raise awareness of child food insecurity in Canada with the Never Miss Lunch campaign. We appreciate being able to work together and support children in communities that are most vulnerable, because no one should have to face hunger alone.”
Support in Every Community
“We’re humbled to have the overwhelming support of our franchisees who are celebrating this program in their restaurants across Canada. They are all more passionate than ever to be rallying together to continue to support their communities and to ensure kids have the nutrition they need,” says Doug Fry, Country Director, Subway Canada. “This year marks a major milestone of our Never Miss Lunch program – we’re honoured to celebrate five years of partnership with Food Banks Canada, and we’re proud to be increasing and expanding our contributions.”
Introducing the Never Miss Lunch® Design Competition
To bolster awareness around childhood food insecurity in Canada, Subway® Canada launched their Never Miss Lunch® Design Contest.3 The competition invites Canadians of all ages and skill sets to submit drawings to have the chance for their original artwork to be featured on Subway® Canada’s next sandwich wrap nationwide and the chance to win one of the $500 Subway® gift card prizes. The inspiration for designs is to answer the question: “What’s the best part about being a kid?” Subway® Canada believes that by helping kids overcome hunger problems, they can get back to worrying about kid problems (the only problems kids should face) – like getting a basketball down from being stuck on the rim or dropping ice cream on a hot summer day.
Until June 18th, Canadians can visit nevermisslunch.ca to submit their design. As thanks for Canadians’ artistry, an additional $1 will be donated by Subway® Canada to the Never Miss Lunch® initiative, for each design submission.4 Four winning artists will have design elements integrated into sub wrappers and used in Subway® restaurants nationwide later this year.
Driving Serie(ou)s Impact
Ordering a Footlong to support a good cause has never been easier. Subway® Series is an entirely overhauled menu comprising fifteen craveable, chef-crafted sandwiches. It’s a new way to order – simply order by name or number, and your Subway® Sandwich Artist does the rest.
Canadians can learn more about Never Miss Lunch® by visiting Subway.com/NeverMissLunch and submitting a design at nevermisslunch.ca.
