Lawsons Donate $1M to Stop Marketing to Kids Campaign
Policy & Data
The Stop Marketing to Kids campaign, co-led by the Childhood Obesity Foundation and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, received a huge boost in April thanks to a $1 million gift from Joannah and Brian Lawson.
The Lawsons donated the gift through the Heart and Stroke Foundation to help take the important message of restricting the marketing of foods and beverages to children across the country. The funds will support a national, multi-media marketing campaign and a high-profile speaker that will help the foundation directly engage decision-makers in Ottawa.
The Lawsons, both U of T alumni, have long been passionate about nutrition and children's health and are leading supporters of the University of Toronto's Centre for Child Nutrition & Health, which focuses on the most important nutrition-related issues facing children and their families today.
The Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition at the University of Toronto has created five fellowships to tackle nutrition education and child health in Canada and globally, with a broad focus on practitioner knowledge, health systems and public health.
Three new faculty members from the University of Toronto have joined the Joannah & Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition this year, bringing expertise in nutrition, chronic disease and child health, and undertaking innovative research.
The Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition and Target Kids! help coordinate 30 parent partners who represent the families and communities seen in primary and paediatric care, and in research studies.