Students lead the way in summer food drive

May 31, 2017

Despite a light drizzle, Leadership students from Brookswood Secondary School gathered under a group of tents to celebrate the completion of a district food drive on May 30. Organized by District Teacher, Lenny Yun, four high schools, and one elementary participated in a contest to donate to the local food drive.

During the school year, students in need can partake in district food programs such as the breakfast program, though, over the summer, those same students may struggle to find meals. BSS, LSS, REMSS, WGSS all participated in a food drive contest as well as Alice Brown Elementary. The celebration saw all the schools gather at BSS to drop off their donations. Sources Langley Food Bank was present with a large truck, ready to receive the goods.  There was music, dancing, and food.

For teacher Lenny Yun, who oversees the Leadership programs in Langley, these kinds of initiatives are rewarding and supportive of student’s learning journey. Students who participated gained the benefits of learning social responsibility and developed their creative thinking and communication skills. She encourages all of her students to develop empathy and be supportive of community needs, both local and globally.

Sources Food Bank serves, according to Operations Coordinator Bruce Strom, on average 600 people per week. One third of those are children, and 60 of them are babies. They serve a variety of people, including families of students in need. Sources is a “low barrier food bank”, which means that anyone who shows up is able to receive food.

Anyone who comes to receive food must provide a proof of address and a picture ID, as well as Care Cards for kids, though even without, clients are given a supply bag of food with enough to last two days.

Though donations to the food bank are highest over Christmas, often they see a steep decline from January through to August.

Though the final weight of the food being donated hasn’t been concluded, boxes upon boxes filled the donation space, meaning that more families and community members will be able to eat steadier, and healthier meals over the summer months.

If you would like to donate to Sources Food Bank, you can visit www.sourcebc.ca for details.