Thousands of free meals for hungry Richmond kids

More than 10,000 free meals could be donated to hungry kids in Richmond, thanks to a partnership struck with one of Canada’s leading fast food chains.

Mealshare – a Canadian organization founded in 2013 to combat child hunger – has teamed up with A&Ws across the country.

For every designated “Mealshare” item ordered at A&W, a dollar will be donated to Mealshare, which then passes the funds to a particular charity’s food program.

In terms of Richmond, Mealshare works with the local branch of the Boys & Girls Club of South Coast BC, with the goal to provide around 10,800 meals for hungry children.

The A&W program works via “Mealshare Mondays,” when customers can order a Cheddar Bacon Uncle Burger Combo and one meal (a dollar) will be provided to a youth in need through Mealshare.

Any day of the week, however, customers can do their own “Mealshare” by adding $1 to their order.

“(The A&W partnership) will have huge impact for our organization and the charities we support,” Lauren Hennessy, Mealshare’s Vancouver community leader coach, told the Richmond News.

“There are nine A&Ws in Richmond, but we’ve partnered with every single one nationwide.

“We hope that this partnership will also create a chain reaction and more local Richmond restaurants will take interest in joining our program, which would mean even more support in our goal to end youth hunger.”

The restaurant industry across Richmond, B.C. and Canada has suffered greatly during the pandemic and, as a consequence, so did Mealshare.

So its teaming up with A&W has been described as a “game-changer,” with the fast food chain having more than 1,000 outlets across Canada.

“A&W is an amazing organization and a leader in the industry through its many environmental and social initiatives,” said Jeremy Bryant, co-founder of Mealshare.

“The support of A&W restaurants will make a huge impact for Mealshare and all the youth we support across the entire country.”