Help keep our kids fed, warm and learning
Support for hungry kids brings David Sidoo full circle
David Sidoo is wealthy — Google will supply all details — a success story well chronicled by the business press, which love to put six or more figures behind names. And yet on Monday when
Vancouver’s Colliers adopts Hastings elementary school
by Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun What does it to take to adopt an entire school? Colin Scarlett and Colliers International are about to find out. In response to The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-a-School campaign, launched late
Surrey breakfast program gives kids food for thought
Eight Surrey schools to receive $4,000 to feed students for whom yogurt and fruit are luxuries by Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun In September, the Surrey school district took the hesitant step of providing a breakfast
Letter from Kevin Bent, Publisher: Thank you for supporting children in need
There are times when being publisher of The Vancouver Sun is especially gratifying and none more so than now when I am able to announce that our Adopt-a-School campaign raised $270,000 in donations – all
Breakfast is now being served: Thunderbird elementary schoolkids get healthy start to the day
by Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun Three months ago Thunderbird elementary school principal Henry Peters surveyed his little flock and wondered how he’d shepherd them through a cold and hungry winter. Emergency food coupons — kept
The truth about child poverty: B.C. has had the highest rate in Canada for eight years
Children are going to school in Metro Vancouver without food, without shoes, without winter coats or mittens. Some are tormented by bedbug bites; others with head lice. The stories are as heartbreaking as they seem
Schools in need: Morley Elementary is a safe haven for refugee kids
“Compassion before curriculum” is never likely to make it as a school motto given what the institution of education is all about. But it might well describe Burnaby’s Morley elementary. Morley’s a school – the
Cycling club raises almost $5,000 from pot-luck fundraiser
When Donna Begg and Sharon Kreutzer read teacher Carrie Gelson’s open appeal on behalf of the children in her inner-city school class-room, they mobilized their entire cycling team to help. “After I read Carrie’s letter,
Telus continues drive to finance Adopt-A-School, now through YouTube video
Tune in to Telus’s annual fire log video spoofand your view will send $4 to kids in need in British Columbia. It stems from an age-old tradition. Every year around this time, there are people
London Drugs toy tour brightens up lives of families experiencing tough times
When the school bells ring today signalling the start of Christmas holidays, it will be a joyful time for many kids. Not so for students who are going home to places where there is not
Free breakfast and lunch programs provide a major boost to learning results
If there’s one dramatic no-brainer in our collective desire to see kids’ classroom performances improve, it’s this: to feed the mind, first feed the body. For half a century now, scholarly study after scholarly study
Schools in Need: CABE looks after teen mothers and their children
For many Grade 12 students, graduation year is a hectic but fabled time of anticipation and excitement as the world beyond the classroom waits. But for Vanessa Ellingson — the head and breadwinner of a
Schools in need: Sir William Macdonald elementary faces special challenges
A new iPad is a coveted Christmas gift for many kids. But for the students at Sir William Macdonald elementary, it can be the difference between learning to read, or not. There are only 80
Facebook ‘likes’ target reached – let’s keep it going!
Our Facebook campaign has reached its initial goal of 5,000 ‘likes’ and it just keeps growing. And now Telus, the original sponsor that donated $1 for every ‘like’ on our VanSunKidsFund page up to $5,000
Nickelback raises money for BC Kids Hospital – Schools next?
The Vancouver Sun applauds Nickelback’s $50,000 contribution to BC Children’s Hospital, inspired by Andrew Putt’s band, Pardon My Striptease, which released a song called Pray (For LJ) in honour of Putt’s one-year-old daughter Lilee-Jean Putt,
Schools in need: Fine arts school needs a music teacher… and food, and winter coats
When the Vancouver school board bowed to community pressure and spared Queen Alexandra elementary from closure last year, the school was saved in part by being designated a fine-arts school. But the new label for
Helping schools around the world, from your living room
A new initiative by the Canadian International Learning Foundation has set out to overcome what Canadians say is the single biggest barrier to becoming a volunteer: lack of time. “Change the world in five hours
‘Mompreneurs’ step up to help inner city students
It might have been the very specific request from a teacher for a boy’s winter coat, in size 8, that tipped the scales for Suzanne Bertani, a Port Moody mom and business owner. Bertani was
Schools in need: Camp, field trips out of the question for Lord Strathcona students
Stand at the entrance of Lord Strathcona elementary in the heart of the Downtown Eastside and look north: There is Grouse Mountain in all its glory — an enormous self-proclaiming advertisement for urban entertainment and
Schools in need: 150 students in Whalley’s Kwantlen Park Secondary need help with food, clothes, housing
The need is quickly apparent at the inner-city school of Kwantlen Park secondary in Whalley. Five minutes into a conversation between a school youth worker and a reporter, a teenager is seen crying in the
Facebook ‘likes’ are now worth $4 each: West Van reader matches Telus donations
When we started our Facebook campaign for Adopt-a-School, Telus stepped up to pledge $1 for every ‘like’ on The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund Facebook page, up to $5,000. Every dollar is matched by the children’s
Schools in need: Surrey breakfast program feeding hungry students, keeping them in school
“A six-year-old that’s hungry is not a pretty picture.” Pat Horstead’s observation, which creates the disturbing image of childhood cuteness distorted by want, came Wednesday in a small cupboard of an office in Surrey’s Georges
Lessons learned: School sports are more than just a game
Education has come a long way from reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. The three Rs have been broadened to encompass the three As – academics, arts and athletics. The first provides students with the skills and
Problem solved: Thunderbird Elementary principal overwhelmed by response
Thunderbird elementary school principal Henry Peters was overwhelmed by the response to an appeal Monday for help for his inner-city school where many children come to class hungry. “The response has been fantastic,” said Peters,
Update: Lord Roberts gets $16,000 towards technology to help unlock learning in autistic kids
UPDATE: Since this story was published, Lord Roberts has been inundated with donations. We’re told 42 iPads have been purchased or donated, with 12 of those going to special needs classes. If you have plans
School in need: Thunderbird Elementary goes above and beyond with food and laundry
When Henry Peters and Janey Lee graduated, there was nothing in the fine print on their teaching certificates that mentioned having to be semi-professional fundraisers or part-time social workers. Teachers teach, social workers care for
Corporate commitment to charities helps students eat healthy breakfast
The lineup of children at Grandview elementary school began early Tuesday morning, as the first whiff of grilled cheese drifted through the gymnasium. It was a day like any other, with several dozen students from
Problem solved: Homework Club lands local benefactor and new computers
On Thursday morning, The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-a-School appeal described the sad plight of Britannia secondary school’s Homework Club. The club, which encourages students from the poorest areas of Vancouver to carry on to college or
Opinion: Schools forced to feed bodies and minds – and nurture and dress them too
Earlier this week, we received an email from a school principal. It was one of many we’ve received from schools this week, and this particular school, outside of Vancouver, was in a middle-class neighbourhood. Here
Text SUNKIDS to 20222 to help feed hungry kids
Your $5 could feed a hungry kid breakfast for a week. Now imagine you can double that without spending another dime – your $5 donation will stretch to feed that child for two weeks. Starting
School in need: Britannia Secondary Homework Club needs donors to survive
It’s nothing more than an act of faith when Kim Leary looks around the financially faltering Homework Club – in full swing Monday night at Britannia secondary school – and imagines somehow it will all
School in need: Sir John Franklin Community School
Sir John Franklin Community School, in partnership with parents of the community, enables and inspires individuals to discover and develop their full potential as life-long learners in an inclusive, nurturing and supportive environment. Immediate Needs:
Inner-city kids come to school tired, hungry: teacher tells forum
A panel discussion was held Monday evening at the Vancouver Public Library to discuss poverty and inner-city students. This was organized by Carrie Gelson and her colleagues at Seymour elementary in the weeks after The
