Several community groups and organizations are banding together to support more than 600,000 Ontario youth with healthy meals and snacks throughout the school year.

The Ontario government is pouring another $5 million into the Student Nutrition Program and the First Nations Student Nutrition Program.

The investment brings the total provincial funding for this year to $38 million and, the province says, will help ensure the program can continue to deliver almost 90 million nutritious meals and snacks to students.

At a news conference on Thursday in Mississauga, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Michael Parsa, said that proper nutrition is an important foundation for academic success, adding, ‘’students should have access to healthy and nutritious food to support their growing minds and bodies.”

The province is partnering with the Arrell Family Foundation, the Breakfast Club of Canada, the Schad Foundation, the Grocery Foundation and Student Nutrition Ontario to launch the Healthy Students Brighter Ontario campaign, the first province-wide fundraising partnership of its kind.

To kick off the campaign, the partner organizations have raised $1.67 million from The Arrell Family Foundation, The Schad Foundation, Peter Gilgan Foundation, Maple Leaf Foods and the Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security, The Honourable Margaret McCain, and The Sprott Foundation. The organizations will continue to work with local groups and businesses to encourage community involvement and fundraise to reach a combined goal of $10 million, which includes the government’s investment.

The Student Nutrition Program is delivered in partnership with local agencies, school boards, and community partner organizations, while the First Nations Student Nutrition Program is delivered through a First Nations-led process. Both provide breakfast, snacks or lunch programs to school-aged children.