Vision

Following the success of The Hunger Project last year, EnviroCouncil is continuing its mission to raise awareness about food insecurity. This year, we aim to engage more students at Unionville High School by highlighting the impacts of food insecurity in Markham and empowering students to take meaningful action through an in-person workshop. This campaign focuses on dismantling stereotypes of food insecurity, educating the school community through interactive, hands-on activities, and encouraging impactful conversations.

Following the success of The Hunger Project last year, EnviroCouncil continued its mission to raise awareness about food insecurity, with both short- and long-term goals that went beyond raising awareness alone. In the short term, our goal was to engage even more students at Unionville High School by highlighting the often-unseen impacts of food insecurity in Markham — a reality that exists close to home but is frequently misunderstood or overlooked. We wanted to provide students with interactive, hands-on learning opportunities through an in-person workshop that broke down stereotypes, fostered empathy, and gave students concrete ways to understand the complexities behind food access.
Alongside this, we organized a native plant garden event at the school, where students helped plant native species that support local biodiversity, protect the soil, and create a sustainable, low-maintenance green space. Not only did this give students the chance to connect directly with the land, but it also tied into broader lessons about the importance of local food systems, environmental stewardship, and how healthy ecosystems support food security in our communities.
The long-term goals are rooted in creating a sustainable culture of action and advocacy among students. By sparking impactful conversations and providing tools for students to take meaningful, informed action, we envisioned a school community where students not only recognize the challenges of food insecurity but also see themselves as capable change-makers. This meant inspiring student-led initiatives, volunteer efforts, partnerships with local organizations like the Markham Food Bank, and ongoing educational campaigns that included workshops and a food drive.
When we undertook this project, we imagined creating a ripple effect — where small steps, like attending a workshop, planting in the school garden, or participating in a discussion, could lead to bigger, ongoing efforts to support local food banks, advocate for equitable food access, and educate peers and families about the importance of food justice. We hoped to build a program that doesn’t just inform but empowers, making students feel that their actions matter and that collective change is possible when we work together as a community. Ultimately, we wanted to show students that food insecurity is not just a distant issue — it’s a local challenge they have the power to help address, one small step at a time.

Action

This student-led and community-driven initiative was characterized by an in-person workshop in collaboration with the Markham Food Bank, a seed-planting workshop, and a series of activities involving Ontario native plants to promote the importance of long-term sustainability.
I: Guest Speaker + Hunger Simulation + Call for Action + Seed-Planting Workshop
For our two-session, in-person workshop, the goal was to debunk stigma and help students understand the root causes of food insecurity. The workshop was made available for all UHS students, and they were eager to learn! We were very honoured to welcome a guest speaker from the Markham Food Bank, who shared insights from serving the community and answered students’ questions. By delivering a heartfelt and action-oriented message, we believed this was the best way to educate students and break down stereotypes.
To achieve this, the EnviroCouncil executive team developed a Hunger Simulation game to help students recognize why food insecurity was becoming more prominent in the community. The game was designed for students to take on the role of a community member and experience how difficult it was to navigate financial and health challenges while trying to ensure healthy food was on the table. In the activity, each group worked with a budget to maintain their Hunger, Wellness, and Shelter bars while making careful financial decisions amid random events. This activity gave students a glimpse into the hurdles of grappling with finances while meeting basic needs, helping cement their understanding of the root causes of food insecurity.
After the immersive experience, students were encouraged to engage in meaningful conversations in groups and reflect upon three categories — “Feelings,” “Impacts,” and “Next Steps” — by expressing their takeaways on a collaborative Bristol board.

II: Native Plants Garden + Native Plants Bookmark
Food security and a sustainable ecosystem are mutually beneficial. Native plants help improve soil quality, mitigate pest invasion, and attract pollinators, playing an integral role in edible food gardens. To highlight this, EnviroCouncil organized a student-driven, school-wide volunteering event to revitalize the school garden and introduce native plant species. Inspired for change — even in the rain — students removed invasive plants from the garden and replaced them with native plants. In the past, we have also worked with a First Nations artist Victoria Grant to make signs to help students and visitors to identify native plants in our garden. Those signs were placed in the garden and we hope to make more signs for the new plants we planted this year. To aid in identification, UHS students have also begun to make an online catalogue of the native plants that are in the garden, which is linked to a QR code on a sign in the garden.
As another part of the campaign, EnviroCouncil also hosted a resin bookmark meeting to share this message. Participants had the chance to craft their own bookmarks using Ontario native flowers as they learned about the importance of native species in the environment. EnviroCouncil continued to collect native plant flowers, dry them, and use them in bookmarks to remind others of the beauty and importance of native species. These memorabilia served as daily reminders that taking small steps, like learning more about native plant species, could result in a positive and lasting impact on ecosystems — and, ultimately, on food security.

Reflection & Celebration

The Hunger Project: Revamped concluded with great success, aligning with our vision of engaging more students at Unionville High School to spark meaningful conversations about food insecurity through our partnership with Markham Food Bank. Actions were taken to also run a food drive that built upon the continued learning about food insecurity and the need to equitably support our local community with healthy foods. The food drive was its most successful this year, bringing in 2000 items for donations.

This year, we were able to introduce the concept of sustainable ecosystems by allowing students to contribute to revitalizing the school garden. Eight different kinds of native plants were introduced, including wild strawberry, prairie smoke, columbine, sharp lobed hepatica, foam flower, trillium, foxglove beardtongue, and even hairy beardtongue, which were grown from seeds collected from plants in our teacher’s garden. The plants in the garden have been selected by students for their ecological and medicinal benefits, as well as flowering in months that students will be at school.This activity opens doors for students to explore planting native plants and consider their ecological and medicinal benefits, while empowering participants to reflect on how small, sustainable actions can make a difference.

Building on last year’s momentum, the Hunger Project will be implemented as an annual event at Unionville High School and we are hoping to expand upon the learning to the larger community. Our goal for the near future is to expand the audience reach for our in-person workshops, continue to work closely with the Markham Food Bank, and continue running food drives as part of the initiative. Through these efforts, we aim to lead by example in mitigating the impacts in the food insecurity landscape, fostering environmental sustainability, and championing equity in our close-knit community.