This year’s Great Big Crunch comes just as the movement for school food is mobilizing to ensure school food is included in Budget 2023. 

Write to your MP, (template letter here), the Minister of Finance (template letter here), and/or invite your MP and local media to visit your school food program anytime during the Month of March or April!

Register for the Virtual Canada-wide Crunch that will take place on Thursday, March 9 at 1 - 1:30 pm EST! Together, we will highlight the importance of healthy food at school and make some noise for a National Healthy School Food Program for Canada.

Want to show your support? Can’t make it to the Virtual Great Big Crunch? Throughout the month of March, you can crunch in many other ways - it can be a special day, class, online meeting, lunch break, or even an intentional 5 minutes! Just make sure to end with a synchronized CRUNCH into an apple or another crunchy fruit or vegetable.

Get ready to make some noise!

• If you see “Thank you for submitting the form!” after completing the registration form, you have been registered successfully and can close your window.
• If you signed up successfully for the Virtual Great Big Crunch, you will see “Meeting Registration Approved”. Once you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find a Zoom URL link to the virtual event. Make sure to add it to your calendar or email it to yourself so you don’t lose it!

Our toolkits can be found and downloaded on our website here.

If you are a teacher, principal, or staff working at a school, sometimes your school may prohibit access to the toolkit links. Try again when you are at home or off from school premises and it should work.

Check out these media appearances by members of the Coalition and news on the importance of school food programs around the world.

• “Canada is planning its 1st national school food policy. What will it include?”, Global News, February 8, 2023, Coalition Coordinator Debbie Field.
• “Hungry for funding: Push is on for a national school food program”, The Sarnia Journal, February 8, 2023, Leslie Palimaka, Sarnia-Lambton’s community development coordinator for the Ontario Student Nutrition Program,  Coalition Coordinator Debbie Field
• “Soaring food costs are making it harder for kids across Canada to eat a healthy meal at school”, The Current with Matt Galloway, February 14, 2023, Coalition Coordinator Debbie Field, at minute 12:17.
• Carolyn Webb says that UNIVERSAL school food programs are FAR more effective than targeted/means-tested programs. Listen to what else Carolyn had to say at the HESA committee meeting., Meeting No. 54 HESA - Standing Committee on Health, February 14, 2023, Coalition Knowledge Mobilization Coordinator Carolyn Webb at timestamp 11:15:23
• “Soaring food costs are making it harder for kids across Canada to eat a healthy meal at school”, CBC, February 17, 2023
• “Mayor announces every London primary schoolchild to receive free school meals”, London City Hall, February 20, 2023
• “States that have passed universal free school meals (so far)”, Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center, February 21, 2023, Leah Butz