Adopt-A-School: Generous Sun readers raise more than $2M for 133 schools

Lawyer Jack Kowarsky at his home in Vancouver on March 16. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

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The final numbers are in for our annual campaign and 133 schools received $2,320,342 in aid from The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School program to feed and clothe hungry and impoverished students.

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Since AAS began in 2011, $17.5 million from generous Sun readers has been sent to hundreds of schools across the province. The money has been used by teachers to safeguard the welfare of students arriving at school in need of food, clothing or other necessities that their parents were unable to provide.

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The majority of the money has been used to provide in-school meals.

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However, principals and teachers who have sought AAS help this year have noted an alarming rise in the number of families falling into poverty and the increased need to assist them.

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With the high cost of food and accommodation some families are having difficulty paying rent and providing enough food for their children — especially single parents working at minimum-wage jobs or on social assistance or families arriving in Canada as refugees.

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This has caused a huge surge in requests from schools seeking to alleviate in-home hunger.

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Schools say they need to send food home or supply families with emergency grocery cards to ensure children are fed.

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They’re finding families with no food at home and without the means to buy it. So, these children are primarily being fed at school and not being sufficiently fed on weekends or during school holidays. Teachers have told of watching children gorge themselves on food on Mondays — a clear sign that their not eating at home over the weekend.

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This situation is exacerbated by the provincial government’s decision to end the student and family affordability fund — a $20-million fund that schools had used in part to alleviate in-home hunger until it was cancelled last August just before the school year began.

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While the provincial government is to be commended for initiating the feeding futures program that provides school meals for needy students whose families seek the help — a historic step it took in 2023 — its decision to shut down the affordability fund has been disastrous for inner-city schools who relied on it to support the most desperate students and their families.

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Because schools aren’t allowed to use feeding futures money to purchase in-home food or grocery cards, The Sun’s program remains the only major source for this help.

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Until AAS assistance arrived this year, one Vancouver school principal said he was unable to find $63.80 a month in his budget to provide a student suffering from a rare kidney disease with a bus pass she needs to get to school — something he was able to do when the province’s affordability fund was available.

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The AAS program is administered by The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund board, a registered charity. No administration fees are deducted from donations.

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Schools in 31 districts were helped this year as well as a number of independent schools and organizations. Vancouver received $497,200 and Surrey got $421,780.