Our mission at summerlunch+ is to grow great kids with our comprehensive cooking and nutrition education program where the child drives positive lifestyle changes within the family home. Our program is guided by our values of:

Sustainability

Summerlunch+ recognizes the climate crisis that our planet is facing and has developed our program to address these critical issues. We believe that the integration of sustainable practices and education can create an environment where our communities and nature can coexist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.

  • • Our meals and recipes incorporate plant-based ingredients to reduce the environmental impact of meat products on the environment.

    • We source our food from local retailers and farmers to mitigate the transportation and energy required to move our food from the source to our plates.

    • We foster partnerships with neighbourhood businesses such as Iqbal’s Halal foods and community organizations including Believe to Achieve working within and investing back into our communities.

    • Children are educated about the food system and taught sustainable food practices to reduce food waste and foster an early understanding of our environmental impacts. This learning is enhanced through partnerships with sustainable organizations such as Not Far From The Tree and Second Harvest 

Empowerment

At summerlunch+ our mission is to empower children and give them the tools they need to succeed beyond our program. Through educational modules and critical hands-on learning experiences, children are taught to make informed choices about the foods they eat. These healthy habits will set them up for success in adolescence and adulthood.

  • • Children get hands-on experience in food safety, food skills, and cooking.

    • Our learning modules address topics such as sustainability, nutrition label reading, and food literacy.

    • Our activities allow children to apply their learning from the learning modules.

    • We address food insecurity and summer learning loss by providing families with meal packages and nutritious recipes.

Fostering healthy relationships with food

summerlunch+ recognizes the importance of establishing a healthy relationship to food in childhood. We encourage children to be curious about their food, listen to their bodies, and know that all foods have a place in the diet. This allows children to develop critical skills in self-regulating appetite based on internal cues and personal preferences, which have been shown to positively influence both physical and mental health.

    • We use a non-restrictive approach to encourage children to eat a variety of foods with different nutrient compositions.

    • We do not use contingencies or coercive practices to persuade children to eat a certain way (i.e. No dessert until you eat your vegetables).

    • Foods are described using neutral terms.

    • All foods have a place in the diet.

    • We teach children to rely on their natural hunger and satiety signals to make appropriate decisions about if and how much to eat.

Accessibility

With food insecurity being an issue here in Toronto, at summerlunch+ we believe in making food and food literacy accessible to all. To support children, we reach out to families through community initiatives, our employees and our families. In hopes of no child missing out on nutritious meals and attaining knowledge of good food habits over their summer break.

  • • We reach out to communities we have previously worked with as well as new communities.

    • We deliver the summerlunch+ at Home program at no cost to the participants. We believe that all children should have the opportunity to explore new foods and learn food skills for life.

    • The online format and asynchronous learning components of the summerlunch+ at Home program allows children to work at their own pace and schedule.