Vancouver developer commits nearly $200,000 to feed schoolkids
PCI Developments has been supporting The Sun’s charitable campaign for a decade. Tim Grant, the president of PCI Developments, said the shock of learning children were going to school hungry led the company to support The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign. The real estate company has constructed office and residential towers across the Lower Mainland for […]
Clothing, food always in need for young students
École Squamish Elementary principal shops for enough food for those who arrive at school hungry, roughly a quarter of her 400 students. Every week, Sarah Hain, the principal at École Squamish Elementary, has the extra-curricular job of shopping for enough food for those who arrive at school hungry, roughly a quarter of her 400 students. […]
Students in B.C.’s alternate school system among most in need
Applications to Adopt-A-School from a number of alternate schools around the province total more than $100,000 Applications from schools seeking help from The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign point to an education system struggling to deal with the effects of poverty on students. Reports from teachers about the lack of food, clothing, and basic necessities in […]
School struggles to feed kids as donations dwindle
‘Since we started our intensive breakfast program last year, we’ve seen a steady increase in the number of students wanting to come to school in the morning.’ With more students than ever finding their way to Fraserview Learning Centre, it’s a bad time for this alternative school on 7th Avenue to be suffering a funding […]
Breakfast program key to reducing absenteeism
‘Once you get their bellies full, their physical and mental well being is better and their educational outcomes are better.’ Gurpaul Sohal, principal of Gladstone Secondary in East Vancouver, owes everything good in his life to a public education. So naturally, he wants his 990 students to thrive in school. “I ended up teaching at […]
Feeding kids in the school of hard knocks
Outreach staff of the Vancouver Alternate Secondary School spend their days connecting to street kids … on the streets. Some days the staff of the Vancouver Alternate Secondary School will spend their time searching the Downtown Eastside for a student they are concerned about. They’ll visit hangouts, housing shelters, parks and tent camps. “They are […]
Strathcona students among the most needy of all
Each day, staff prepare and provide as many as 270 grab-and-go breakfasts for students of Lord Strathcona Elementary. It’s 8:30 a.m. and some of the children coming into the Strathcona Community Centre for breakfast are tired, some are chirpy, but they are all hungry. They enter up a flight of stairs at the back of […]
Kwalikum secondary needs help providing for basics
“The cost of necessities are often unattainable for some families and we want to help. This child needs glasses. It’s not a whim.” QUALICUM BEACH — This community with its sweeping views of Georgia Strait, its sandy beaches and pastoral quiet has long been regarded as a retirement haven for those no longer enamoured with […]
David McCann keeps on giving to help keep kids fed
Despite doctor’s order to slow down, 78-year-old on a roller-coaster ride of helping out. David McCann does have a paying job — he’s the general manager of Creekhouse Industries on Granville Island.But how he finds time to do it amid the numerous and often giddy roller-coaster rides he takes to raise money for The Vancouver […]
Surrey’s Safe School Wraparound program comes full circle for woman who credits former mentor
The Wraparound program is seeking $25,000 in emergency funds from The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign to provide assistance to youth in crisis. At age 12, she ran away from home and headlong into a criminal record that likely awaits anyone that young seeking to survive alone on the streets of Surrey. Why did she run […]