Adopt-A-School: Children helped by Attendance Matters program

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Vancouver lawyer Jack Kowarsky’s decade of support for The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School campaign on behalf of the Lohn Foundation has fed many thousands of impoverished school children arriving at school hungry.

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Donations from the foundation to Adopt-A-School have been sent to Surrey’s Attendance Matters program, which feeds 1,000 children each day in 32 inner city schools.

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These schools have a high number of families — including new immigrant and refugee families — who struggle to pay rent and feed themselves.

In a story earlier this week, Rachel Ladd, principal of Riverdale Elementary (one of the schools) told The Vancouver Sun she worried about the welfare of some of her students who might only be getting fed at school.

“We have a huge number (of families) that need support with groceries or food to take home,” Ladd explained.

She said there were some students who “haven’t had anything to eat since they left here yesterday.”

Another problem was the number of children who had no coats or boots to get them through winter, and she had appealed to a school in South Surrey for a supply of donated clothes.

This year, Surrey has asked The Vancouver Sun Children’s Fund board, which administers Adopt-A-School, for $100,000 to provide food for Attendance Matters.

This is part of a $383,000 request to help feed, clothe and provide for impoverished children throughout the school district, the largest in the province.

Without this money those children would not receive the help teachers say they need.

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Kowarsky said it was “very concerning to see families not having enough to eat or unable to provide proper clothing for their children.”

For this reason the Lohn Foundation has donated $100,000 for Attendance Matters this year and a further $25,000 to be used for clothing, $2,000 of which will be sent to Ladd.

“I’m glad to be able to support this school with funds for breakfast and for winter clothes. Children can’t be left hungry at school or without adequate clothes. It’s just not right,” said Kowarsky.

Earlier this year, the chair of the Surrey school board, Laurie Larsen, thanked Kowarsky for the Lohn Foundation’s support since 2014.

“It’s my privilege to be able to write and thank you for your contribution to Surrey schools over the past 10 years,” she wrote in a letter dated March 7.

“I’m no stranger to the challenges some families in our district continue to face. … Our educators are dedicated to ensuring that every student has access to the resources and opportunities they need to achieve success.

“As you know not all of our young people start out on this journey on equal footing, but that does not mean they cannot achieve all their dreams,” wrote Larsen.

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She then made reference to Kowarsky’s own background as a refugee child who came to Canada after the Second World War, a Holocaust survivor from Poland.

Kowarsky, 85, lived in poverty when his family arrived in Canada, but would build himself a successful career as a lawyer.

“Your ability to overcome the odds and then to turn around and lessen those odds for our students is inspiring.

“Our Attendance Matters program would not be the program it is without the $650,000 you have provided over the years … without a nutritious morning meal our students would otherwise be unable to learn.

“Your generous donation ensures these students feel supported and can focus on learning and playing rather than where their next meal is coming from,” she wrote.

This year’s donation raises the amount received by Adopt-A-School from the Lohn Foundation to $775,000.

Schools across the province are asking Adopt-A-School for a total of $2.9 million, the majority of requests are for funds to buy food.

All donations to Adopt-A-School will be sent to schools. No administration costs are deducted from donations.

gbellett@gmail.com

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