Volunteer smashes target goal in peanut butter campaign for food-insecure kids

A young volunteer from Waterloo Region has blown the lid off the goal of their peanut butter collection campaign.

Kaleb Nieva, a 20-year-old man with Down Syndrome, has been leading an community-wide effort to provide for food-insecure children by collecting jars of peanut butter for Food4Kids Waterloo Region.

A regular volunteer at the organization, Nieva set out to collect 200 jars to help contribute to the organization’s fifth annual peanut butter campaign that runs from April until June.

Nivea’s crushed his goal, with the jar tally now sitting around 500.

This is not the only way Nieva has helped make a positive change in his community - a former group of his elementary school teachers donated $1,000, which the Nieva family has committed to matching.

Nieva’s dad, Karl Nieva, contacted several local businesses to serve as drop-off locations, including Brady’s Meats, Maison KooKoo Patisserie, Sweet Dreams Tea Shop and Moose Winooski’s.

Peanut butter pick-ups will take place over the weekend.