A Summer Made Possible by Community

At West Hill Summer Camp, children spend their days with other kids playing baseball and soccer, making art and watching movies. For families in this underserved community in Scarborough, the free program provides something just as important: a safe, welcoming place for children to be engaged throughout the summer.  

“There's such a gap during the summer months,” said Rejoice Emore, who runs the West Hill Community Support Program, a camp partner in Second Harvest's Feeding Our Future program.

“We are grateful for Second Harvest for bridging that gap because due to this food insecurity, you find out that some kids can't even attend summer camp. Why? Because there is no food. So, parents would rather keep their kids at home than have them be embarrassed because of a lack of snacks,” she added.  

For families, that food can take some of the pressure out of the summer. With sandwiches, snacks, fruit and drinks provided through Feeding Our Future, parents have one less expense to worry about and can go to work knowing their children are somewhere safe, active and fed.

“Kids don't need to worry in the morning. Parents don't need to bother to make breakfast or prepare meals for the children to bring to camp. With our program, they can wake up, smile, come to camp and they have something to eat,” Rejoice said.  

“This summer camp has really impacted the children in so many ways,” she added. “There’s never a dull moment with these kids. Engaging them is very good both for them mentally, and also for their family.”

Kids go home and tell their parents about their days. Parents tell their neighbours, and new families register to join. The camp can serve 100 to 150 children in a week, with attendance continuing to grow as word spreads through the community.

“The number of campers we have increases based on the snacks we have for them,” Rejoice shared. “The food we get from Second Harvest is enough to provide for this number of kids.”

“And one more thing,” Rejoice continued, “it is always on time.”

Behind every sandwich made and every snack packed is a team of 295 volunteers who contributed over 950 hours to Feeding Our Future over the summer. Many showed up as early as 7 a.m. for their shift.  

Ines Nishimura is one of them. She began volunteering at Second Harvest after retiring early to serve as a caregiver for both her mother and partner. Her connection to the cause runs deep.  

“I grew up in a food-insecure family. It was tough, it was hard,” Ines shared. “I remember what it was like as a child when you would be with a group of friends and there was nothing to eat. I still have the feeling I had when I was a twelve-year-old little girl. If I can be part of a solution, I’ll do it.”  

While handling the increasing demands of her caregiver role for an aging parent, Ines finds a strong sense of purpose volunteering for Second Harvest. She has been at every community sandwich making volunteer shift this summer.  

“This I do for me,” she said.  

For Ken Nakamura, making sure that kids are fed is simply rewarding. He even celebrated his 70^th birthday at Second Harvest by joining the morning shift to make sandwiches for Feeding Our Future.  

"Children have big appetites at camps," he said. "It's all worthwhile."

A heartfelt thank you to our camp partners and volunteers, whose dedication brought Feeding Our Future to life this summer — and to our generous donors, whose support fuels every lunch, snack and moment of care behind this program. Together, we made 32,738 lunches and reached over 2,400 children and youth across the GTA.