Manjit Nahal, principal of W.E. Kinvig Elementary in Surrey, has 432 students under her care this year.
The Vancouver Sun’s Children’s Fund, which administers the Adopt-A-School campaign, has sent $15.1 million to schools since 2011 to set up breakfast and lunch programs for impoverished children.
Their education, well-being, and academic progress during their time in the modest, single-storey school on 70B Ave. near 132nd St. is naturally her main concern.
But it’s not her only one.
There’s a list of 50 families struggling to find sufficient food to feed themselves for her to worry about, too.
It’s what inner-city schools look like in 2025 — increasing numbers of parents seeking help from their child’s school, with food being what they need most.
“We are super diverse here. We have a lot of new immigrants and low-income subsidized housing” in the neighbourhood, said Nahal, who has been principal at the school for three years.
”Some of them will come in and say, ‘I don’t have anything in my cupboard and I don’t have anything in my account and I can’t go and buy groceries.’ That’s the biggest one — food — it’s huge.
“At the beginning of the year, we got a lot of requests. It’s really tough.”
Now as the weather turns colder, she is concerned that some students have no winter clothes and she will need to buy jackets, boots, toques and gloves.
She will need money to do this and provide what help she can with food, but it will have to somehow come from the community now as the provincial government ended its $20 million student and family affordability fund that since 2022 has been used by schools to help impoverished families struggling with the cost of living.
The Vancouver Sun’s Children’s Fund, which administers the Adopt-A-School campaign, has sent $15.1 million to schools since 2011 to set up breakfast and lunch programs for impoverished children. This was 12 years before the provincial government brought in its historic Feeding Futures program to help feed children.
A significant part of the $15.1 million was designated as emergency funds, which at the discretion of teachers and principals could be used to safeguard the welfare of students if they were not receiving sufficient food at home or needed winter clothes, shoes or other necessities.
This year, W.E. Kinvig is asking Adopt-A-School for $3,000 in emergency funds to help its families with food and clothing.
Losing the government support “hurt us big time,” said Nahal.
Fortunately for the school, some parents have connections with a Save-On-Foods store and have brought in donations of food so Nahal can send some children home with backpacks of groceries.
As for help with clothes, Nahal has an arrangement with an elementary school in an affluent part of South Surrey that sends used clothes and winter jackets.
One mother helped by the school and Adopt-A-School said the assistance at times was vital.
The single mom of three children is on social assistance and has a part-time job. However, she is restricted to working a set number of hours, otherwise deductions will be made from her government allowance.
”There are times when I’m waiting for my paycheque and waiting for assistance to come in. There’s usually a week when I have no money and there are times when ‘OK, how on earth am I going to feed my children?” explained the mom, who Postmedia is not identifying.
“Feeding them is more important than feeding myself, but there are times when I need milk or food for their lunches. It’s a struggle,” she said. ”It’s not every month but there are months when I feel the pinch.”
”I get backpacks (of food) weekly, which are amazing and helpful. If I didn’t get the backpacks and if my oldest son wasn’t on the lunch program (at school), it would be hard.
“When I first became a single mom three years ago there were moments when it was embarrassing to ask for help, but knowing the school was there …”
She stopped for a moment to compose herself and admitted to becoming emotional.
”I’m not the only mom in the school being helped. We’d feel it a lot if those programs weren’t there to help us.”
The school is also one of several inner-city elementary schools that together are requesting $100,000 from Adopt-A-School to support the Surrey school district’s Attendance Matters program, which uses breakfast as an incentive to bring students with poor attendance into school.
No administration funds are deducted from Adopt-A-School donations. All 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)
