For some children, school is as close to family as they will get
It takes only a few paragraphs written by the principal of one learning centre to another to lay bare the tragedy of a young life. The details are so stark, there’s no need for any amplification. On Nov. 19 at 9:47 a.m., Jim Mc-Connell, principal of Surrey’s City Central Learning Centre finds this in his […]
Chilliwack’s Watson Elementary needs help feeding 50 hungry kids a day
For Elaine Arsenault the beautiful moments at school far outweigh the ugly. “I’ve been head-butted, spat upon, I’ve been called a crackhead and worse,” said the child and youth care worker in Chilliwack’s Watson Elementary school. But then a child who looks like he could be a model for one of Raphael’s angels will come […]
Children will go hungry in Surrey school if breakfast program is lost
Surrey principal Angelo Morelli says it would be a tragedy if his school, K.B. Woodward Elementary in Whalley, ever lost its breakfast program which feeds up to 60 hungry children every day. “The kids need breakfast because often their parents can’t provide it,” says Morelli. “This is a lovely school with great kids, but we are […]
Program at Sir Charles Tupper secondary school helps teen parents graduate
Seventeen-year-old Rena Nadeau admitted there was a time she considered dropping out of school. Eighteen months ago, she was pregnant and it looked like her school days were over. “I was on the verge of dropping out,” says Nadeau, as her nine-month-old baby, Kaesen, sits on her lap. “I was at Van Tech and I didn’t […]
Families at Edmonds Community School struggle to buy food and pay rising rents
Social assistance rates have been frozen for almost a decade in B.C. while a white-hot real estate market has pushed rents through the roof. Which is why Sean Gaster, principal at Edmonds Community School in Burnaby, sometimes sees 60 children a day coming in hungry looking for breakfast. Parents, too. “It’s very difficult for some […]
Hunger still a major issue in many B.C. schools
This province has children who arrive at school each morning hungry, improperly clothed or without adequate footwear. Not just dozens or hundreds. Thousands. All they can hope for is the compassion of teachers to help them endure these miseries. To their great credit it is not unusual to find teachers and principals attempting to feed […]
A closet for students who don’t have one at home
There are some students attending Vancouver’s Sir Charles Tupper Secondary who own their own cars. And there are some who own only the clothes on their backs. The gulf that exists between those two groups needs no exploring. “Kids with cars? Yes. I remember seeing one kid broken down who didn’t know how to use […]
SOS saves families from hunger
Each month the SOS room in the basement of Norquay elementary offers a lifeline to as many as 14 impoverished families. The acronym stands for Support Our Students but it’s too close to the international Morse signal for immediate rescue for there to be any doubts what it’s all about. And Margaret Jorgensen, who inherited […]
Burnaby school breakfast program gets boost from group of businesswomen
In 2011, The Vancouver Sun’s Children’s Fund sent $11,000 to Edmonds Community School to pay for breakfasts for the 45 children coming to school hungry every day. “We’ve just about used up that money,” Mischa Greenwood, the school’s community coordinator, said earlier this week. The Burnaby school had only asked for $8,000 from the Adopt-a-School […]
Volunteers, bus tickets and breakfast needed in Maple Ridge
Suburban living doesn’t get much better than in Maple Ridge, says Trevor Connor, principal of Maple Ridge Secondary. And on a bright day in the midst of the tidy, well-kept homes that surround his school, it appears self-evident. But – appearances notwithstanding – not everyone here is living the suburban dream. “Because it’s such a […]