Friends Supporting Friends

On February 22, 2025, the Amigas Foundation of Cambridge hosted their Annual Gala Dinner & Dance in honour of Dia das Amigas, a long-standing Azorean tradition that celebrates the special bond of female friendship. The event brought together over 300 women from the community to dance, laugh and eat delicious food!

The gala also served as a community fundraiser, where the proceeds from the silent auction were graciously donated to Nutrition for Learning.

The Nutrition for Learning team had the opportunity to meet with the Amigas at Central Public School in Cambridge to accept a cheque for $7,000. The funds raised will go directly to providing universally accessible meals for students in the Waterloo Region.

“The foundation has been around since 2005 to celebrate the Azorean tradition of bringing women together and to really help the community,” said Sue Machado, chairperson of Amigas Foundation. “We Portuguese love food, and our goal is to feed as many people as possible, so Nutrition for Learning just seemed like a given for us.”

Kim Freeman, principal of Central Public School (K-6). “We have been very positively impacted by the N4L program. Our students access the food services every day and without this program we would really struggle here to meet that need.”

“It lets the women know that when we need support we ask for support. We advocate for ourselves we rely on one another and we rely on our community services. I feel like programs like this really model for young girls and women of all ages that together we really can make things happen.”