Adopt-A-School campaign to feed hungry children launches
Today marks the ninth year that The Vancouver Sun will be appealing to our readers for help in alleviating one of the most serious social problems of the day — the spectre of children arriving at school in need of food. It’s not just hundreds of children, it’s thousands — possibly tens of thousands — […]
Adopt-A-School campaign raises record funds for B.C. kids
This year’s Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign resulted in a record $923,774 being sent to 129 schools across the province…..more
Number of hungry kids triples this year at Nanaimo secondary school
“The north end of Nanaimo used to be an affluent area but that’s changed a bit. We see a lot of families moving in here from Vancouver and the mainland because they can’t survive there. A year ago staff at Dover Bay Secondary were relying on a food bank for supplies to feed breakfast to […]
Eastside school needs funds to help feed kids
Sometimes it’s the parents who admit they aren’t keeping a safe distance from hunger. But mostly it’s the children who tell the tale, says Vanessa Mani, the Enhanced Services worker at Lord Selkirk Elementary in East Vancouver. “I have to deal with parents in tears,” said Mani. ”But the children will say things like: ‘Miss […]
Kids at needy Duncan school “living in hopelessness”
The problem with becoming a statistic — such as being one of the 20 per cent of children living in dire poverty in this province — is that you stop being a person and become a number. And numbers and statistics, says Alexander Elementary’s Aboriginal Education teacher Laurene Klyne, have no humanity and if repeated […]
Downtown Eastside school breakfast program
For those struggling to stay housed and feed themselves on marginal incomes or social assistance that’s how it’s done. Pride is an extravagance, resilience is more useful. To those who don’t live there, the Downtown Eastside is Vancouver’s valley of the poor and the influence it exerts over the imagination of those living in comfort […]
Sidoo family helps hungry students at Gladstone Secondary
The school district estimates poverty makes 10 per cent of the school population vulnerable and the most obvious signs are students arriving at school hungry and in need of nourishment. There are 935 students in Chris Parker’s care and each has the right to a tug on his attention. But the Gladstone Secondary principal has […]
Adopt-A-School: Vulnerable and needy in Nanaimo
“Some people think this is a high-end area but they don’t see how some families are living in basement suites,” she said. Susan M’Gonigle has trouble picking out the right words when asked to describe how some of the children attending Rock City Elementary appear when they come to school in the morning. Euphemisms don’t […]
Surrey Safe Schools
Adopt-A-School: Surrey Safe Schools team helps vulnerable children and families Safe Schools is a unique organization comprised of school district staff and RCMP officers whose assignment is to protect and help the most vulnerable children in the district. Terry is a large man, well spoken, intelligent, and whose main concern — like all good fathers […]
Adopt-A-School: Troubled Surrey teen now helping others in need
Maddie, as she’s known to Surrey’s Safe Schools Team which became acquainted with her four years ago, was a bit of a handful when she was 11. Even the authorities took notice. Now 15, Madison, has put all “the stupid things” she did behind her. And here she was unloading Christmas gifts from a London […]