Bolton Starbucks awards grant to CCS to fight food insecurity

August 21, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Representatives of Caledon Community Services (CCS) were at the Bolton Highway 50 Starbucks last week where they were presented with a Starbucks Neighbourhood grant cheque for $5,400.

Since September 2019, Starbucks partners have submitted more than 170,000 nominations for their local community charities, which has resulted in 16,000 Neighbourhood Grants, totalling over $25 million.

The goal of Neighbourhood Grants through the Starbucks Foundation is to support local charitable organizations that make a meaningful impact in the communities their coffeehouses serve while inspiring partner action.

“We invite our partners to nominate a local organization in their community to receive a grant,” said Smriti Bhandari, District Manager, Starbucks Coffee Company.

Bhandari shared that CCS has been their food share partner as well as their Coldest Night of the Year partner for a few years now.

“It was natural that the partners at our location in Bolton would want to nominate Caledon Community Services for this year’s Neighbourhood Grant as they do so much in the community we live and serve in. We were lucky enough to receive a grant of $5,400 to support CCS for 2025!” said Bhandari.

Mariia Kupriianova, Chief Development Officer with CCS, shared that this grant is more than a gift, “it’s a lifeline for so many families.”

“This support means we can meet the growing demand with nutritious, culturally appropriate food that’s served with dignity, and that grant goes far beyond filling the plates,” says Kupriianova.

Kupriianova said visits to the CCS Exchange Food Bank are currently at an all-time high, and one in three people relying on their food bank is a child.

She says that with back-to-school season just around the corner, Caledon families are beginning to face impossible choices.

“Healthy snacks or a new backpack? New shoes or dinner on the table?” illustrated Kupriianova.

“One of the moms that relies on CCS Exchange Food Bank has recently shared that without this support, she would probably run out of groceries before she has money to buy more, and without the back-to-school program, she would struggle to have money for food and get everything for school; she would have to pick and choose between things to get and leave behind.”

“Thanks to our caring community and corporate partners like Starbucks, this mom and hundreds of others like her, because right now there’s more than 450 children and their families relying on CCS Exchange Food Bank, more moms like this one won’t have to pick and choose,” says Kupriianova.

She said this grant allows them to “lift a weight off of parents shoulders” and kids can go back to school confident, ready to learn, and not on an empty stomach.

“We’re very grateful for corporate partners like Starbucks, who are committed to a stronger community, and who understand that this stronger community starts with ensuring no one goes hungry, no one is left behind, and yet with demand far outpacing our capacity, we rely on our caring community and partners more than ever before,” says Kupriianova. “[We are] grateful to Starbucks and their team for the grant for this community investment, and it is a very important investment in our community’s well-being.”

The partnership, she added, goes beyond the Neighbourhood Grant Initiative.

Through their partnership with Starbucks, CCS receives weekly donations to its Exchange Food Bank.

The Starbucks Community Partnership initiative also means that their partners are actively participating in many initiatives and events that are happening throughout the year, like the Coldest Night of the Year walk.

“With 1,300 Caledon Neighbors relying on the CCS Exchange Food Bank today, our resources are stretched beyond capacity. Every single day, the demand continues with tariff uncertainty, with growing pressures, economic pressures, with the food insecurity crisis that never really went away,” says Kupriianova. “There’s increased pressure, and having partners like Starbucks in our corner year-round ensures that there’s resources, there’s a lifeline, there’s a response to existing and emerging challenges in our community, coming from the very basic foundation of having access to nutritious food to the next step in pursuing a journey back to health, back to independence.

“As families continue along that journey, we can be there for them, thanks to caring donors, supporters, volunteers, and corporate partners like Starbucks.”

CCS also relies on its community to be there for those who need support.

“If you’re able to, please continue to support Caledon Community Services,” says Kupriianova. “But if you or a loved one is struggling, we’re here.”