Fitting Nutrition into the Lives of Street Youth

Do you find it hard to eat right? An estimated 6,500 homeless youth in Canada do.

The lives these teenagers lead consist mostly of jumping from doorways to shelters to various couches, sometimes a different place each night, where there’s no place to cook or obtain healthy food on a regular basis.

Youth who are homeless face poor nutrition, which worsens existing conditions and weakens the immune system. They need nutritional balance for their bodies and brains to properly grow and prepare for adulthood.

The Salvation Army in Regina and Saskatoon just wrapped up a unique summer program that provided well-balanced meals and snacks to at-risk inner city youth in core parks. They are planning new sites and different approaches to provide healthy dietary choices.

Providing street youth a healthy nutritious meal may give them fuel to succeed. They are on the streets by circumstance—rarely by choice.