Huntington University teams up with Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce to launch new community campaign

28 November 2017News Releases

An innovative new community campaign aimed at giving all children an equal opportunity to improve their academic performance by removing hunger was launched Tuesday, November 28, 2017 in Greater Sudbury. Huntington University and the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce partnered on the initiative, which kicked-off over breakfast with a panel discussion featuring community builders who have made civic leadership and community service a core value of their organization.

“The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce has approximately 900 members, many of whom are small business owners and not-for-profit organizations,” said Debbi Nicholson, President and CEO of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. “For those members this panel discussion, led by Dr. Kevin McCormick of Huntington University, is an opportunity to learn innovative ways to give back to the community while developing strategic partnerships and creative projects that will raise community profile, engage employees, and much more.”

“I think it’s important for the corporate and not-for-profit sector to understand that there is more to civic leadership and engagement than simply writing a cheque. Many small groups, which achieve amazing results in support of various initiatives in our community, regularly struggle to find volunteers to assist with vital fundraising,” said Dr. Kevin McCormick. “In some cases, a donation of time and talent can be equally as valuable, and in turn could produce positive effects for the individual/business making the donation.”

In an effort to lead by example, Huntington University and the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce have launched a new community campaign in support of the Human League Association of Sudbury’s local school breakfast and snack programs by challenging community members and chamber member businesses to pledge “human” hours, which will be volunteered over the next 12 months, in support of The Human League Association of Sudbury’s Breakfast Club for Kids program.

Some individuals and groups have already committed hours to the campaign, including Huntington University’s Residence Student Council – a group of students that lead fundraising and community outreach initiatives at the university’s residence.

“The Huntington University Residence Student Council is working hard this year to make an impact in the community,” said Austin Lemieux, Residence Student Council President. “As such, we’ve signed up to have students living in our residence fulfill up to 50 hours, over the next year, to support the Human League Association’s upcoming fundraising needs.”

Individuals and businesses wishing to pledge their own hours to this campaign have until December 20th to do so. Please contact Stephanie Cooke, Executive Director of the Human League Association of Sudbury at humanleaguesudbury@live.ca.

“On behalf of the Human League, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Huntington University, the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce and all of the individuals and business members who have committed hours of time in support of our breakfast program,” said Stephanie Cooke, Executive Director of The Human League Association. “Volunteers are essential to the success of any charitable organization and without their hands-on involvement, the Human League could not successfully fund nutrition programs for school-aged children across the Sudbury and Manitoulin district.”

About the Breakfast Club for Kids program

1,000,000 of Canadian children go to school hungry. The Human League currently provides funding to local school breakfast and snack programs within the City of Greater Sudbury and Manitoulin District, working directly with other community agencies to ensure adequate funding and support is available to all schools wishing to start a breakfast program for their students.

The Breakfast Club for Kids is a program focused on giving all children an equal opportunity to improve their academic performance by removing the leading barrier to learning: hunger. By feeding children a nutritious morning meal, students have shown marked improvements in and out of the classroom. Teachers have reported; higher attendance, a decrease in behavioral issues, and an increase in leadership skills as a result of the nutrition program.