Surrey Fire Fighters’ Nutritional
Snack Program Society

The Nutritional Snack Program is organized by the Surrey Fire Fighters’ Charitable Society and is part of our ongoing commitment to help the needy in our community. The program was developed in 1997 due to the concern about the level of hunger among the City of Surrey’s most disadvantaged children.  In 2020, The Surrey Fire Fighters’ Nutritional Snack Program Society was incorporated. 

This past year, the Surrey Firefighters delivered snacks to an estimated 5,000 vulnerable students in the Surrey school district.  As schools are finding many more children hungry and in need of food in their midst; orders continue to increase and the need for fresh food, dairy, protein components and breakfast foods have increased greatly. The Surrey Fire Fighters’ Nutritional Snack Program Society now has 113 schools from the Surrey School District currently participating in the Nutritional Snack program, highlighting the need that is present.

The program provides fruit juice, granola bars, sesame snaps, fruit cups, cheese and crackers, and other nonperishable grocery items that are individually wrapped and can easily be distributed to the students in need.

The program costs are kept to a minimum and the only expense is for the food itself. The Surrey Fire Department provides transportation and the labour is provided by firefighters and school administrators both of which keep this program running in an efficient manner.  Volunteer firefighters (past and present) pick up the food from the grocery store and deliver it to the participating schools.  School administrators hand out the food to those that are in need.  There is absolutely no charge to the schools or to the students for the food. 

The impact of monies donated to the Fire Fighters’ Nutritional Snack Program is direct and powerful because each dollar is translated directly and solely into food for hungry children. 5,000 students in Surrey will be better able to concentrate and learn, better able to interact with peers and teachers, be healthier, happier and more confident, and better able to envision a future of achievement and success. The Nutritional Snack Program gets food quickly into the hands of those most in need. The snacks improve the health of hungry children and also help students to concentrate and maximize their opportunity to learn while at school. We know that if we can address the basic need for food, then academic achievement, attendance, behavior and future outlook for those most vulnerable will improve significantly. By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger, especially in childhood, can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people’s ability to work and learn.

For schools wanting to apply for the program please email nutrition@iaff1271.org with your name and phone number and what Surrey school you are from.

The Online Nutritional Snack Program request system is ACTIVE.
Please place all your Nutritional Snack Requests online from this point forward.

Click button to place a request  Request Form

In 2012, Mr. and Mrs. Balsor generously donated $100,000 to the program.  See the media story by clicking this LINK  Since then, Mr. & Mrs. Balsor have continued to support our Snack Program which has allowed us to expand our program.