Meal Program - $20,000
Our school is addressing the nutritional needs of many of our students, as we have a high poverty rate. We believe making sure that every single student begins and continues their day hunger-free is one of the most profound ways to achieve equity among students in a school.
The culinary arts class at John Barsby Community School has been transformed from a regular cafeteria class to a hybrid meal program, run and operated by students under supervision. A contact-less delivery system throughout the school offers a hot breakfast and a hot lunch every day of the school year.
One of the most surprising side-effects of our program as it exists right now, is the incredible student response in and out of the classroom. In my culinary arts class, the class that does ALL of the food preparation and delivery for our program, my attendance has never been at its current level - I have near perfect attendance most days, which was unheard of in years past.
The inclusion of our Skills for Life students
has been remarkable. My students have fully embraced cooking food
for the rest of the school and their sense of purpose in the tasks
that they are doing has created a collegial team environment that
doesn't leave any student out. They all are important people in the
operation of the program; they all have a significant purpose; they
can recognize each other’s value. Student cooking for students keeps
our program a home-grown act of community care.
Emergency Fund - $2,000
We will provide emergency clothing and other basic necessities to students in need.
(AAS21-184)
In the fall of 2011, the school year had barely begun at Admiral Seymour elementary when teacher Carrie Gelson, frustrated after a difficult day at work, wrote an impassioned open letter to Vancouver residents asking whether anyone cared that her inner-city students were coming to school cold, hungry and with holes in their shoes. And then something wonderful happened. On the day that The Vancouver Sun published her letter, Gelson arrived at the East Vancouver school to discover that, “People had already dropped off thousands of dollars in cash . . . they literally drove into work that morning bringing donations.”
Clearly, Gelson had revealed a pressing need in our communities and, in keeping with our paper’s long-vested philanthropic commitments, we not only told her story from a journalistic perspective, but asked our readers — through our Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund charity — to help her students and others. And come through our generous readers did.
A decade later, The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund’s Adopt-a-School project has raised more than $8 million in donations both large and small, from individuals and from companies alike, and not just money but clothing, school equipment and field trips.
Since the beginning, our commitment has been to ensure that every single penny donated goes directly to the children, and we have continued to honour that promise. When you donate to The Vancouver Sun Children's Fund, 100 per cent of your donation goes to help children and youth. None of your donation goes to administration costs.
