Six East Side secondary schools have banded together to produce A Night to Support Philippines Typhoon Victims. The fundraising concert is Thursday, Nov. 21.
“There’s been no shortage of students that are willing and wanting to get involved and they all understand that it’s something much bigger than something they could comprehend,” said Mark Reid, head of the fine arts department at Vancouver Technical secondary. “There’s a really solid turnout of people that already get the idea of connecting with the community and connecting with a community that’s on the other side of the globe.”
Students will sing, dance and sell calendars and other goods they’ve created at the event. Donations will be matched by the federal government. Reid hopes many Vancouverites will attend.
“When we celebrate a youth contribution here, we remind those performers that there are people who appreciate the positive things that they’re doing in their community and so it spurs a further message of positivity,” he said.
Tickets are $10 at the door at Van Tech, 2600 East Broadway. Doors are at 6:30 and the show starts at 7. For more information, call Fenchie Cajiuat, Vancouver School Board Filipino multicultural liaison worker, at 604-713-6000, local 2381.
Donations
Vancouver schools received $1.52 million in donations between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013, the greatest amount in six fiscal years. Finance staff reported the amount Nov. 13 to the Vancouver School Board’s finance and legal committee in response to a request by trustees. The amount includes only donations that have been reported by schools to the district.
Staff report the distribution of donations from east to west can vary from year to year. Donations per student were higher at West Side schools for the last two fiscal years. West Side schools received $23.28 per student in 2011/2012 and $33.79 per student in 2012/2013, whereas East Side schools received $16.04 per student and $26.29 per student, respectively.
But staff report the first few months of the current fiscal year indicates more donations per student for East Side schools at $12.24 per East Side student and $5.50 per West Side student.
A fundraising survey the board released earlier this month revealed Vancouver schools raised $3.45 million in 2012/2013. Rick Krowchuk, secretary-treasurer for the school board, said the donations report is “somewhat of a subset” of the fundraising report. The memorandum about donations doesn’t include grants and money raised by parent advisory councils. The fundraising survey didn’t include money donated to the board as a whole.
Trustees and parents worry disparities between the amounts of money raised and donated to different schools leads to inequity.
“Trustees and other stakeholders are concerned about relying too much on fundraising because if you get the government’s grant and then usually everybody is treated equitably, we have a formula per student and it doesn’t matter east or west,” Krowchuk said. “Some schools have a higher percentage of students with special needs or other requirements, then, of course, they’ll get more money because they need more money, but at least it’s done on an equitable basis.”
The Vancouver School Board received $430,000 in donations in 2012/2013, the lowest amount in six years. The board received the greatest amount, $1.16 million, in 2011/2012. The Vancouver School Board is registered as a charity and can issue tax-deductible receipts. Donations to the district as a whole are usually for larger amounts and include money provided for breakfast programs, artist in residence and Project CHEF programs.
