“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 personally donated to AAS for several years.

But it’s his fundraising efforts that set him apart.

In December 2019 he staged a weekend art sale in Sir Charles Tupper secondary in Vancouver that raised thousands of dollars for the school.

On Nov. 22, he held a fundraising dinner for 66 people at the Teahouse Restaurant to launch what he has called his Feed the Kids campaign that raised $32,750 for AAS — half of which he donated in matching funds.

He is planning three more fundraising dinners in the New Year and is proposing to match those proceeds as well.

In 2024, he’s proposed art fairs in three Vancouver schools and one in Surrey to sell some of the thousands of prints and artwork that he has amassed over the years.

And he is also negotiating to sell the prints in a pub on Davie Street.

“I used to run an art gallery and of course I got to know artists. People have been giving me prints — I have pallet loads — and I’m planning to sell them and give the money to Adopt-A-School and A Loving Spoonful, another organization I support,” he said.

A Loving Spoonful is a Vancouver non-profit that provides subsidized meals to people living with HIV or in low-income housing.

He said the money dedicated to A Loving Spoonful will be used to buy meals that will be distributed free to schools in Vancouver to provide lunch for students in need.

Earlier this month he was selling Bernard Gantner stone lithographs in the lobby of the Vancouver Playhouse for four nights when the Vancouver Men’s Chorus performed their Making Spirits Bright concerts.

He also sent prints and art cards from Linda Frimer and other artists to Caledonia secondary in Terrace — a school being helped by AAS — so they could hold their own fundraising event.

Next in his fundraising sights are the businesses on Granville Island and his Granville Island Cares for Kids campaign. He is hoping to drum up donations, a portion of which will be given to AAS with matching funds from his own pocket.

Why is he doing all this?

“Why? Well, when you know there are kids who are hungry and need to be fed — what else can you do?”

By Gerry Bellett (gbellett@gmail.com)