County shoppers and visitors fed meters for school food programs

Mayor Quaiff with the cheque for PEC.

Mayor Robert Quaiff joined his peers from Belleville and Trenton to present funds raised in the 2015 Feed the Meter campaign.

Quaiff, Belleville mayor Taso Christopher and Quinte West mayor Jim Harrison presented their communities’ proceeds from the Feed the Meter campaign – reaped from donations to parking meters in their downtowns during December. The County presented $2,159.15 and with the Trenton and Belleville, the program gained almost $30,000.

Food for Learning programs throughout Hastings and Prince Edward counties use these additional funds to purchase food for programs at local schools.

“Every child has the right to proper nutrition and research has shown that healthy eating affects their ability to learn,” said Maribeth deSnoo, the foundations’ executive director. “Eliminating hunger as a barrier to learning helps many students reach their full learning potential in the classroom.”

deSnoo said the demand for healthy food at school continues to rise in the area’s communities. Last year, Food for Learning programs provided 978,333 meals and snacks to 14,283 students in Hastings and Prince Edward counties.

This was the seventh year for the fundraising initiative. Through the support of the mayors, councils and DBIAs of Belleville, Quinte West and Prince Edward County, parking was free at the meters downtown throughout the month of December. During that time, visitors and shoppers in the downtown areas were invited to continue to put money in the meters as a donation to the Food for Learning programs.

The campaign was also supported in the County by Prinzen Ford, the Prince Edward Federation of Agriculture, and Rotary Club of Picton.