Surrey WRAP program looks out for at-risk kids
The program is seeking $10,000 from The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign as WRAP doesn’t have discretionary funds to help with emergencies. On Dec. 1, Jon Ross’ plate was full: a family of four had just been evicted — two teenagers, a 10-year-old, and a single mother. “The kids were making too much noise. Now they’re […]
Teacher feeding hungry kids at her own expense
Bonnie Wendt describes the educational benefits of feeding impoverished and hungry students. For those with sufficient income, tonight is the traditional time for gifting. But for Bonnie Wendt, giving is a year-long endeavour. Most mornings, she arrives at Killarney Secondary in East Vancouver carrying something she has cooked, bought or removed from her home. It […]
Proper clothing needed to help schoolkids through winter
Students often coming to school hungry and ill-prepared for the winter weather. The impoverished teenagers Randy Horton cares for in the Sunrise Alternative program at Vancouver’s Templeton Secondary could use more food during the day and proper clothes to get them through the winter. “Food availability at home? It’s extremely low. A lot of them […]
London Drugs delivers Christmas gifts to needy students
This year, a record number of schools from all areas of the province are asking for help to feed and clothe students, with requests to The Vancouver Sun totalling almost $2 million. Four Lower Mainland schools received hundreds of gifts from London Drugs this week for distribution among students and families in need as part […]
Vancouver lawyer has sent $450,000 to needy children since 2014
It is unlikely there is anyone with a greater understanding of what it feels like to be hungry to the point of starvation, or to be in need of the help of strangers than Vancouver lawyer Jack Kowarsky. He is now 82 years old, but in 1945, he was a six-year-old miracle — one of […]
Wildfires caused additional pressure on hungry kids
The Vernon school district is asking The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School program for $8,500 so it can continue to provide lunch for 206 children daily. For schools in Vernon it was hard enough dealing with the effects of the pandemic and the precipitous rise in the number of families falling into poverty as jobs vanished. Then […]
Kitsilano program works to lower barriers to access to education
The Vinery Alternative program is asking for $10,500 in funding. Kitsilano, with its narrow, leafy streets of quaint, multi-million-dollar homes, is synonymous with many things, but poverty is not one of them. But even in the midst of one of the most desirable of Vancouver neighbourhoods there is need and privation. Jessica Reid and other […]
Living up to the challenge of getting youths back into school
We work with some kids who haven’t been to school in three years and who live in total chaos, and we manage to get them graduated and into work programs. I’m always hopeful. Kristina Spring is a youth and family worker who, with teacher Manny Sobral, is tasked with bringing an education to teenagers almost […]
Students facing even greater challenges with homes under water
The children’s fund board, which administers Adopt-A-School, approved a grant of $10,000 to help the school in lieu of donations arriving, plus an extra $2,000 to cover emergencies that have arisen since the flooding. The flooding that has brought widespread destruction to this Fraser Valley community has heaped misery on the poor and the financially […]
School children get help from the young and the young-at-heart
This year, almost double the amount of schools have applied for assistance to feed and clothe children than in the past. On the morning of May 21, 2021, two Vancouver Sun readers — a seven-year-old child (believe it or not) and an 80-year-old subscriber — opened their newspapers and read a story by columnist Shelley […]