Last year, 20 to 30 families living on the margins and finding it hard to put food on the table or dress their children for the winter could always make their way to Lianne McBride’s door and ask the principal of Surrey’s K.B. Woodward Elementary for help.
Government help is gone as the $20 million affordability fund that was available to schools across the province was cancelled just before school began in September.
And help was available as McBride had access to the provincial government’s family affordability fund plus a $2,500 emergency fund provided by The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign.
Now that government help is gone as the $20 million affordability fund that was available to schools across the province was cancelled just before school began in September.
However, McBride is still left with help from The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund which administers Adopt-A-School and is seeking a $3,000 grant this year to help families when an emergency strikes.
“I had a mom come in not too long ago — she had just dropped her kids off — and she burst into tears, absolutely burst into tears, and said, ‘I have no food until Friday, I have nothing’ and it was early in the week.”
What happened?
“I pulled in some gift cards and pulled in some staff and went shopping and gathered some grocery bags.”
Was Adopt-A-School money used?
“Yes it was.”
McBride said the loss of the affordability fund was a “big thing”.
“I have regular streams of families wanting to come and see me for gift cards.”
She said the Adopt-A-School money often helps the school nudge families in the right direction so they can take advantage of what the school is offering and create a sense of belonging.
The school is also part of the district’s Attendance Matters program that is seeking $100,000 from Adopt-A-School to provide breakfast for close to 1,000 students in more than 30 schools.
Research has shown that if a child misses at least 10 per cent of schooling through absence by Grade Four, their chances of graduating are severely reduced.
And children living in poverty are more likely to miss school than others. Attendance Matters is designed to encourage students with attendance problems to come to school early so they can be fed and tutored before classes start.
McBride provides an example of a mother who is receiving the support she needs from the school and Adopt-A-School to get her children to school each day, rain or shine, despite obvious difficulties.
“Her story is definitely not unique. She had her first child when she was 15 and with that comes a lot of complexities. Her own upbringing was challenging and she has told me in several different ways that she wants to ensure her kids have a different narrative than what she has had. But the (lack of) resources have been challenging,” said McBride.
The young mother has two children in the early grades and a baby.
“To reach school, they have to walk quite a distance. She’s here pretty early in the morning. We open up between 7 a.m. and 7:30 and she is often there with all her kids. So the first thing we do is feed them all breakfast,” she said.
The mother also receives gift cards at times to help buy groceries, including at Christmas, to provide food and for basic needs during the holiday.
Because of the distance she walks, McBride used Adopt-A-School money to provide her with a set of umbrellas. “You might think umbrellas, ‘Oh well whatever’, but I went and got fancy umbrellas, a big golf umbrella so she could actually have it over the stroller.”
“Often her kids don’t have the footwear they need for different seasons and they are walking quite a bit, so we buy them.
“She comes when it’s raining because we provide them with boots and umbrellas, but she’ll be walking in the dark soon and it takes half an hour to walk here. The next thing on my list is to provide them with winter jackets. They don’t have any,” she said.
McBride said the mother tries to tap into other community resources for help.
“But they are hard to access and have strong guidelines that are a barrier.
“What The Vancouver Sun (Children’s Fund) offers is less of a barrier so we can give (help) to families.”
No administration fees are deducted from donations to Adopt-A-School. One hundred percent of donations are reserved for schools.
How to donate
1. ONLINE: Donate online with a credit card at www.vansunkidsfund.ca
2. PHONE: To pay by credit card, call 604-813-8673.
By Gerry Bellett (gbellett@gmail.com)
