A simple act of recycling can make a big difference for children in Charlotte County.
In Charlotte County, a local charity is finding creative ways to tackle child food insecurity, ensuring children have access to nutritious food even when school is out for the weekend.
We’ve Got Your Back is a volunteer-run charitable organization based in St. Stephen that provides weekend food packages to local schoolchildren. The program helps bridge the gap for families who may struggle to put enough food on the table when school breakfast and lunch programs are unavailable.
We’ve Got Your Back supports approximately 90 families each week and serves children attending nine local schools.
Now, residents have another opportunity to support this important work — by recycling their empty beverage containers.
Turn Your Cans into Meals for Children
The organization’s “Toss It Today, Change Tomorrow” initiative encourages residents to donate the proceeds from their aluminum cans and eligible beverage containers to help feed local children.
The concept is simple: instead of keeping the refund from your recyclable cans and bottles, you can direct that money toward We’ve Got Your Back.
Special donation tags are available to attach to your bag of cans and bottles. When you take your recycling to a participating redemption centre, the tag identifies the donation as being for We’ve Got Your Back.
The initiative is designed to make donating convenient, with the goal of allowing supporters to drop off their tagged bags without waiting in the regular line.
100 per cent of the proceeds from these donations go to We’ve Got Your Back to support its work feeding local children.
It’s a practical way to turn something many households already collect into meaningful support for families in our community.
Helping Children Be Ready to Learn
For some children, weekends can bring uncertainty about where their next meal will come from. While school meal programs provide important support during the week, that assistance may not be available on Saturdays and Sundays.
We’ve Got Your Back works to address this need by providing food packages that children can take home for the weekend.
Volunteers shop for groceries, pack food bags and arrange discreet distribution through participating schools. The goal is to help children return to class on Monday nourished and ready to learn.
The organization emphasizes that it is volunteer-run and that donations are used to purchase food for children.
Small Actions, Big Impact
The recycling initiative offers Charlotte County residents a straightforward way to contribute, whether they have a few cans or several bags to donate.
It also demonstrates how community organizations can find innovative ways to bring people together around a shared cause.
Rather than viewing empty cans and bottles simply as items to return for a refund, residents can see them as an opportunity to help a child who needs a little extra support.
Businesses, community groups, families and individuals can all play a part by collecting their eligible containers and participating in the donation program.
Every bag can help, and every contribution supports the larger goal of ensuring children have access to nutritious food.
How to Get Involved
Residents interested in supporting the program can learn more about We’ve Got Your Back, its weekend food packages and its recycling donation initiative by visiting WGYB.ca.
You can also contact the organization to ask where to obtain donation tags and which local redemption centres participate in the program.
We’ve Got Your Back is showing that making a difference doesn’t always require a large donation. Sometimes, it starts with something as simple as saving your cans and bottles.
