President's Choice® Children's Charity awards $2.6 million to Breakfast for Learning for the 2012/2013 school year

BRAMPTON, ON, Feb. 5, 2013 /CNW/ - President's Choice^® Children's Charity has awarded $2.6 million to Breakfast for Learning to help fund more than 2,900 programs in almost 2,000 schools across Canada for the 2012/2013 school year. These funds will support student nutrition programs that aim to fight childhood hunger by giving students access to healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks.

"President's Choice^® Children's Charity has committed significant resources to help feed Canadian children," says Peggy Hornell, senior director, President's Choice^® Children's Charity. "We're thrilled to help support a better learning environment at our local schools through Breakfast for Learning."

Since 2008, President's Choice^® Children's Charity has served as Breakfast for Learning's National Premier Sponsor donating more than $11 million to organizations across Canada. This has meant providing breakfast, lunch and snacks to more than 1.2 million children and youth who otherwise may not have access to a healthy meal. Through the support of nutrition program delivery in communities across Canada, children are starting their day well-nourished and ready to learn, which will help foster life-long healthy eating habits.

"Food insecurity is a reality for many Canadian families with a compounding impact on children.  When a child is hungry it's hard to learn, and this can have long term consequences on the life of a child," says Wendy Wong, president and CEO of Breakfast for Learning.  "Presidents Choice Children's Charity has been instrumental in improving the nutritional health and long term well-being of Canadian children. This ongoing commitment to helping us feed hungry Canadian children and youth makes them a true champion of the healthy development and wellbeing of our future generation."

Make a Positive Difference in the Community is one of the five corporate social responsibility principles that shape the way Loblaw conducts business. Fundraising initiatives in support of President's Choice^® Children's Charity is just one example of how Loblaw continues to be active in communities on national, regional and local levels. Among other activities, Loblaw banner stores host national food drives to help address hunger across Canada.

For more information about President's Choice^® Children's Charity and to apply for a grant please visit www.pc.ca/charity or call 1-866-996-9918.

About Breakfast for Learning
Breakfast for Learning is committed to helping children across Canada realize their full potential in life by ensuring that all children attend school well nourished and ready to learn.  Established in 1992, Breakfast for Learning is Canada's first and largest national charity dedicated to supporting school-based nutrition programs, funding breakfast, lunch and snack programs in every province and territory in Canada.  In the 2011-2012 school year, Breakfast for Learning funded 4,431 breakfast, lunch and snack programs, within 2,509 school/community sites, feeding more than 430,000 children and youth over 67 million meals and snacks.  To learn more visit www.breakfastforlearning.ca.

About President's Choice® Children's Charity
President's Choice^® Children's Charity is committed to helping children across Canada, with a focus on supporting children with disabilities and fighting childhood hunger. The Charity supports children with disabilities directly through financial grants and as the National Premier Sponsor of Breakfast for Learning shares a vision dedicated to improving the lives of children. The cost of administration and operations of the Charity is funded by Loblaw Companies Limited, ensuring that 100 per cent of every dollar donated goes to helping kids and their families. The Charity offers funding across Canada and dollars are granted in the region in which they are raised. Since 1989, the Charity has awarded more than $86 million, reaching more than 15,500 families. For more information on the President's Choice^® Children's Charity or to donate online, visit pc.ca/charity.

About Loblaw Companies Limited
Loblaw Companies Limited, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada's largest food retailer and a leading provider of drugstore, general merchandise and financial products and services. Loblaw is one of the largest private sector employers in Canada. With more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores from coast to coast, Loblaw and its franchisees employ more than 135,000 full-time and part-time employees. Through its portfolio of store formats, Loblaw is committed to providing Canadians with a wide, growing and successful range of products and services to meet the everyday household demands of Canadian consumers. Loblaw is known for the quality, innovation and value of its food offering. It offers Canada's strongest control (private) label program, including the unique President's Choice^®, no name^® and Joe Fresh^® brands. In addition, the Company makes available to consumers President's Choice Financial^® services and offers the PC^® points loyalty program.

SOURCE: President's Choice Children's Charity

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