East Van school sees dramatic jump in students seeking food, clothing
Teacher covering some expenses out of her own pocket. A year ago, as many as 40 students a day in need of food could be found visiting a small office in East Vancouver’s Killarney Secondary set aside for Bonnie Wendt, the school’s Indigenous education enhancement worker. Now she is trying to cope with up […]
Breakfast program cancelled in face of growing demand, lack of funding
Isolated Crawford Bay school faces challenges with resiliency. It’s unlikely that most British Columbians could point a finger at this tiny village of 350 residents on a map. It sits in beautiful isolation among the Purcell mountains on Highway 3A. An hour’s drive south is Creston and the Idaho border, and an hour’s drive east […]
Schools in remote towns face additional support challenges
Added burden to some families who don’t have their own vehicles or who find the cost of gas for a round trip of 140 kilometres to a supermarket difficult to afford. The elementary school in the hamlet of Hixon has provided 102 years of community service to families in this rural part of the […]
Wealthy neighbourhoods don’t protect schoolkids from poverty
This year’s campaign has received 204 applications — mostly from schools — seeking financial help so they can care for impoverished children arriving at school hungry or without proper winter clothes or in need of other necessities. Inglewood Alternative Secondary might be sitting in the heart of one of the wealthiest enclaves in B.C. — […]
Schools becoming links to community resources for students
Student population needs a great deal of help, both while they are at school and also while they are not. Families relying on a minimum wage job of $16.75 an hour are struggling to put a roof over their heads and sufficient food on the table, says Keith Axelson, principal of Parkside Secondary in Terrace. […]
Warm breakfast an integral part of Attendance Matters program
Forsyth Elementary’s enrolment has rapidly expanded in three years when principal had 315 children under her care. Now she has 440, many of them newcomers to Canada. The possible loss of its breakfast program is not something Kam Grewal, principal of Forsyth Elementary in North Surrey, wants to consider. “If it wasn’t available? I don’t […]
Abbotsford school seeks to revive breakfast program
About half of Abbotsford Middle School’s 720 students could be considered vulnerable Abbotsford Middle School has 720 students, ages 11 to 13, of which half could be considered vulnerable, says vice principal Chayne den Ouden. Given the term “vulnerable” covers such a wide range of issues afflicting children, it’s no surprise the school district puts […]
School finds feeding kids essential in shadows of Vancouver highrises
Being hungry is a terrible recipe for learning The tipping point came two years ago when the number of hungry students arriving at King George secondary, deep in the heart of Vancouver’s West End, could no longer be ignored. The school on Barclay Street, not far from Stanley Park, sits in the most-crowded urban landscape […]
Helping schoolkids requires careful approach to support
“There’s a lot of shame around needing support, so you have to be careful how you navigate and reach out.” “I never knew I was poor until the school told me so…” That brief sentence always springs to mind when Aimee Boyer, principal of Surrey’s M.B. Sanford Elementary, is considering how best to help an […]
Clothes, as well as food, are a priority for schoolkids
After a summer of almost unbroken sunshine, the rain and bad weather is causing problems for families who do not have the means to buy proper clothes for the winter. NANAIMO — The food bins sent out to every classroom at Brechin Elementary each morning always come back empty on Mondays. A clear indication that […]