Families in ‘a constant state of grieving’ from community’s high death rate
Tragedies from COVID, drug overdoses, suicide, old age, car accidents, organ failure, cold, exposure inevitably show up in schools. FORT ST. JAMES — The last few years have not been kind to this small community, a former fur-trading post on the shores of Stuart Lake. First came the pandemic and then the wildfires, which […]
When kids are hungry, you step up, says longtime contributor
“When you know there are kids who are hungry and need to be fed — what else can you do?” — David McCann Among the donors who support the Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign, is there anyone more industrious in their commitment than David McCann? The general manager of Creekhouse Industries on Granville Island, McCann has […]
Nelson school’s grocery program a lifeline for children and parents
$7,000 from AAS would provide hot lunch subsidies, breakfast and snack program for children and funds for the family grocery support program. It’s a disturbing sign of the times when some parents find it necessary to seek financial help from schools in order to feed their children and themselves. But that’s the way of […]
Surrey’s Safe Schools WRAP program needs your help to assist others
Safe Schools is designed to intervene and prevent students — many of them impoverished — from being targeted and exploited by criminal gangs. She wept without a sound, just a hand shielding her eyes and a slight heaving of her chest, as she sat in the principal’s office in a North Surrey school — […]
Nelson school grapples with big city problems
Too many of school’s students are homeless and hungry NELSON — There was a time when many of the issues afflicting residents here would more likely have been expected in the socially troubled parts of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. But all the big city problems can now be found in this picturesque small city in the […]
Readers give generously to tackle youth hunger
Vancouver lawyer Jack Kowarsky knows what it’s like to be hungry and deprived. So, he’s given $650,000 to Adopt-A-School since 2014. It is not unusual for teachers to describe children coming to school hungry, with holes in their shoes or shoes held together with duct tape, or to find they don’t have proper beds and […]
Non-verbal kids can ‘sing their hearts out’
“They have difficulty with words, but when we bring in a music therapist, they sing their hearts out. It’s a form of communication for them.” There is no lack of determination to make life easier for some students attending Burnaby Central Secondary. It’s the money that’s missing. For instance, the extra curricula music therapy […]
Principal reports a rise in desperation among students
Too many families cannot afford food, housing At one time education was only about equipping students with the knowledge needed to face the world as adults. That was a long time ago, says Jane Arbuckle, principal of Caledonia Secondary school, the only high school in this northern B.C. community. Now before teaching math and […]
Tight-knit village takes care of its own, but needs a bit of help
Similar to many other rural B.C. communities, families are migrating here in the hopes of finding some relief from the high cost of living — particularly the price of rent. “We do have some new families coming into the area because they believe it is cheaper here,” said Misty Terpstra, principal of Salmo Elementary, which […]
Needs are extreme at several Surrey schools
Students’ needs are extreme in Surrey, where classrooms are growing rapidly. It was a cold morning in Surrey, the temperature a few degrees above freezing. But out in the playground, waiting for Prince Charles Elementary to open its doors, were some children braving the weather in only t-shirts. They were conspicuous among those wearing […]