Make Happy Tummies raises record $4.4 million for 2025 campaign
The Grocery Foundation’s Make Happy Tummies 2025 campaign raised a record $4.4 million.
One hundred per cent of the funds will support the more than 3,000 breakfast programs operated by Breakfast Club of Canada and Student Nutrition Ontario—helping nourish children when they return to school this September.
Make Happy Tummies (formerly Toonies for Tummies) brings together a community of retailer partners and sponsor brands.
During two-week campaigns, retailers promote the initiative in their flyers and on their shelves..
In 2025, over 41 brands participated from January 23 to April 17 at more than 1,700 participating grocery stores.
Sobeys, Safeway, IGA West, FreshCo, Chalo! FreshCo, Ontario Foodland, Thrifty Foods, Farm Boy, Atlantic Foodland and participating Co-ops, Save-On-Foods, Buy-Low-Foods, Nesters Market, Calgary Co-op, Metro, Food Basics, along with over 15 independent retailers, returned to raise funds for Make Happy Tummies this year.
Metro and Super C also joined the campaign for the first time in Quebec, under the French name Créons de joyeux p'tits bedons.
Calgary-based Community Natural Foods also participated for the first time.
"The tremendous success of this campaign in our first year is truly a testament to our community of partners. Companies rallied from every angle - in-store, online, through blog posts, and internal communications. As we saw leading up to Make Happy Tummies' launch, our community is truly unique, and their passion was on full display for 12 weeks while the campaign was running in both official languages," said Joe Fusco, SVP of merchandising at Metro Inc. and board chair of The Grocery Foundation, in a press release.
Make Happy Tummies will return in the first quarter of 2026. The Grocery Foundation invites interested companies to attend a campaign kick-off on June 12.
"The support behind Make Happy Tummies fundraisers from across our industry, restaurant partners, and increasingly individual corporations and Canadians is a noteworthy and emphatic endorsement of our work. We hope to continue to inspire more retailers and sponsors to join our efforts and transform the nourishment available to children and continue to bring our efforts to Canadians so they can continue to help us make happy tummies," said Shaun McKenna, executive director of The Grocery Foundation.
