The Strathcona neighbourhood is vibrant, supportive and close-knit, but many of the residents experience daily challenges that may include poverty and/or low-incomes, language and cultural barriers, addictions, mental health issues and single-parenting.
All of these challenges can negatively impact household food security.
Every day, there are children who come to school without any food. Over the years, food supports such as the Strathcona Community Centre’s Breakfast Program and the Strathcona Elementary School’s Lunch Program have developed to ensure that these students have nourishment for full participation in school. However, the same hunger exists outside of school hours and many of these children don’t necessarily have a dinner to go home to.
Our purpose is to provide a daily healthy and hearty snack to the Approximately 350 children and youth in the Strathcona Community Centre’s preschool, childcare and youth programs.
The funding requested for this project will enable us to purchase ingredients so that we can continue to provide consistent, high quality, nutritious snacks to the children and youth in preschool, childcare and youth programs at the Strathcona Community Centre. The snacks will be created by existing staff and the food will be purchased through the Community Centre’s centralized food order process to minimize costs by eliminating staff shopping time and maximizing wholesale discounts and donations.
Snacks are chosen to include fruit and vegetables, fiber, protein and healthy fats. There is a lot of variety in the types of foods that we offer to encourage children and youth to try new things. Over time, we have noticed children expanding their food repertoires and growing to like some of the items that they had previously thought were “too boring or yucky.”
Examples of the snacks provided include:
- Fruit and veg platter with vegetarian pasta
- Fruit and veg platter with vegetable and cream cheese wraps
- Fruit and veg platter with sandwiches
- Fruit and veg platter with apples bars
OUR 2019 CAMPAIGN IS CLOSED. PLEASE SEE OUR WEBSITE http://vansunkidsfund.ca FOR A LINK TO OUR CURRENT CAMPAIGN.
We know that when we start our annual Adopt-a-School campaign this fall, we will continue to hear — and report — stories of the plight of children living in our cities, and our neighbourhoods, many of whom go to school every day without having had a good breakfast, without warm clothing and the basic necessities they require to get the best start in life.
We know, too, that our readers will continue to help us improve their situation, to provide breakfast and lunch and jackets and shoes, to those who need it most.
Since the day our first Adopt-a-School news story was published in the fall of 2011, generous Vancouver Sun readers have helped us raise close to $5 million to improve the lives of B.C.’s neediest school children.
The 2018 campaign alone resulted in a record $923,774 being granted to 129 public schools across the province to feed, clothe and provide for impoverished children and their families.
The money you donate helps teachers and school staff who are dealing with children suffering from the effects of poverty and enables them to provide breakfast or lunch, or food at weekends. We are grateful for that, and for the opportunity to make a difference.
“The plight of these children and their families is a major social issue. This newspaper’s editorial policy is that government must recognize there are thousands of children coming to school hungry every day and do something to alleviate it,” said Harold Munro, editor in chief of The Vancouver Sun and Province, and chair of The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund, under which Adopt-a-School operates.
“It should not be left solely in the hands of sympathetic teachers, volunteers and the charity of the public.” (In 2018) our readers responded magnificently. Their generosity has been overwhelming and everyone who helped us with a donation has my deepest gratitude.”
