According to a report by the Canada Centre for Policy Alternatives, 13 per cent of British Columbians live in poverty. The report also shows that 32 per cent of children living in poverty in B.C. have at least one parent with a full time job. On top of that, food Banks Canada’s annual Hunger Count reports that 103,464 people used B.C. food banks in 2016 — a 3.4 per cent increase from the previous and 32.5 per cent higher than before the recession hit in 2008.
To address the food needs of children living in poverty, Vancouver’s Community First Foundation has spearheaded a program called Backpack Buddies.
Backpack Buddies works with donor schools to provide students in inner city schools with backpacks filled with food — enough to feed them through the weekend. The program works with 30 schools — 14 donors and 16 recipients — in Greater Vancouver.
“Sometimes before cheque times I don’t have enough money to buy the kids extra snacks or food… so with the Backpack Buddy it helps relieve some of that pressure,” says Allison Snow, a single mother of three children who uses the program at Queen Alexandra elementary school.
“For the most part, it’s a juice box, cans of soup, oatmeal, apples, oranges, fruit snacks, sometimes. That one’s a sometimes, so when they get those, they get super excited for fruit snacks.”
Alianna, Snow’s five-year-old daughter, was one of the kids featured on the foundation’s website. Snow giggles when she recalls Alianna and other kids’ reactions when they receive the packs every two weeks, on Fridays.
“I could see the energy from the kids and how excited they were to have this extra food that they don’t normally get,” she says.
Relief for kids, parents
Donna Mah, an outreach worker at Grandview elementary, remembers the state of some kids before Backpack Buddies. “What I saw with the kids, it was a little harsh. Not all the kids have nutritional food to eat very often,” she says.
Mah says the program makes the kids happy because it gives six meals for the weekend.
“I would love child poverty eradicated from our world,” says Mah, adding that she would love the program to help families develop a sustainable way to produce food and kids to have a better understanding of what food is and make good choices.
For Snow, who has seen the benefits of Back hopeful first hand, she would like to see the program expanded. “I hope to see it reach more schools because it’s not only in inner city East Van that people struggle,” she says. “I want it branch out to more people so more people can utilize it because it’s pretty amazing.”
Backpack Buddies annual Food 4 Thought Gala takes place May 26 at TELUS Garden. Guests will have the opportunity to mix, mingle, enjoy dinner, cocktails and be entertained by Emily Chambers, a soul singer/songwriter from Vancouver. This gala aims to celebrate the success of the Backpack Buddies program and to raise funds to support children in need. Details at backpackbuddies.ca.
ajoaquin@vancourier.com
