Adopt-A-School: School uses funds to feed family jobless because of COVID
About a quarter of the kids at Matheson Secondary come from low-income families After all the travails caused by the pandemic — unemployment, hunger and the stresses that come with sudden impoverishment — the Mendoza family is finally getting back on its feet. “We’re a big family, there’s me, my husband and five children, and […]
Donors’ amazing generosity hits $500,000 milestone
When we kicked off our 10th annual Adopt-a-School fundraising campaign in November, we were hopeful that Vancouver Sun readers would once again open their hearts — and their wallets — and donate to The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund project that began in 2011 as a means to provide food security and other basic necessities to […]
Adopt-A-School: Helping kids who may not have food outside of school
Grants target student hunger in Surrey schools For Manjot Badesha, it was only a matter of time before the emotional toll of it all kicked in. The family outreach worker at Hjorth Road Elementary, an inner city school in North Surrey, was describing the daily efforts the staff are making to alleviate the suffering of […]
Adopt-A-School: A little effort goes a long way at Pacific Custom Brokers
Pacific Custom Brokers has adopted Royal Heights Elementary School in North Surrey, a small school that has many families struggling Three years ago the owner of Pacific Custom Brokers, Glen Todd, was scanning the pages of The Vancouver Sun and was stopped short by a story outlining the plight of children coming to school hungry […]
Adopt-A-School: Wellington Elementary is struggling to feed its impoverished students
“Because of COVID we can’t bring volunteers into the building for the food program so we are trying to reinvent it. We are going to have to get prepared food and are looking to have leadership students with a cart to deliver it.” — Susan Reno NANAIMO — COVID-19 has caused upheaval and distress in […]
Adopt-A-School: Families in need aren’t rare at Prince Charles Elementary
Adopt-A-School: COVID adding to pressures of impoverished For almost 20 years Amy Lauwers, the child care worker at Surrey’s Prince Charles Elementary school, has been helping families trapped by poverty but she’s now seeing families going under who in normal times were self-sufficient. “Now the pandemic’s in play it’s difficult for some people to stay […]
Adopt-A-School: Vancouver executive tees off on childhood hunger
‘I want to issue a challenge to (golfers) to put the money they would have spent on golfing holidays to help these children,’ says Renate Mueller This past summer, Renate Mueller was supposed to be golfing in Spain for three weeks. Today she should have been teeing off in Thailand. But those plans were made before […]
Adopt-A-School: School tries to help families through problem after problem
The usual range of stresses on low-income families with children at Royal Heights elementary has been exacerbated by the pandemic Royal Heights Elementary is one of the smallest schools in the Surrey school district but the social challenges facing its 211 students are the toughest that principal Ruth Mrak has seen. “I’ve been in six […]
Shelley Fralic: Ten years of feeding hungry children, thanks to Vancouver Sun readers
Opinion: Adopt-a-School is now the No. 1 provider of food to public schoolchildren in B.C. You know the child poverty statistics, because we write about them frequently in this newspaper. You know the need is greater than ever, that the grey pall of COVID-19 has only brought more hardship to people already struggling to make […]
Adopt-A-School: COVID adding to pressures of impoverished children and families
For many middle-class professionals, it is fair to say that poverty — as a condition of life — is something they can only imagine. Not having enough money to feed your children, food bank lineups, distressed housing, lack of adequate clothing — it requires a flight of fancy to put themselves into those situations. Not […]