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 […]
Terrace school’s breakfast, lunch program at risk
Terrace Middle School needs $10,000 from The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign to get through the year. Sonja Donnan is seeing an increasing number of students arrive at Skeena Middle School hungry each day, and the worry is she’s going to run out of the money she has available to feed them. “The numbers keep growing. […]
Donations from family and friends not enough to keep food program afloat
James Hill Elementary Principal Lynn Fairley is asking The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign for $11,000 to keep her breakfast, lunch and weekend food going. What do you do as a principal when you see 26 children coming to school hungry every day without food for lunch or just a meagre sandwich, and at least eight […]
Isolated elementary school looking to provide simple snacks for hungry kids
It’s a trek of 90 kilometres down Highway 28 from this central Vancouver Island village to reach any source of fresh produce. Natasha Toth would like to have a hot breakfast available to serve hungry children entering Ray Watkins Elementary in the morning, but she doesn’t have the staff or resources to pull it off. […]
Nanaimo school’s food program will run out of money by Christmas
Knox is asking for $22,000 from The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign to carry on after Christmas as no other source of money has materialized. Holly Knox has 200 or so impoverished teenagers who need to be fed breakfast and lunch every day, which requires 40,000 food servings for the entire school year. But in September, […]
Vancouver Sun charity marks 10th year of helping schoolkids
Before the pandemic of 2019, approximately one in five of this province’s children lived below the poverty line. Almost two years into this crisis there is every sign that poverty has captured even more children and families. This year marks the 10th anniversary of The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign, which since 2011 has distributed about […]
Shelley Fralic: An advocate for children in need
There are thousands of children in this province who have been fed, clothed and cherished because of the concern and compassion of Shelley Fralic, one of the instigators of the Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-a-School program. She was not only involved in its inception in 2011 but worked tirelessly on The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund board of […]