Press Release November 22, 2018
This week, the Lotus Light’s Food Recovery Program arranged a special one-day delivery of over 6,000 lbs of fresh premium milk to Vancouver inner-city schools and community centers experiencing high poverty rates.
This milk delivery was made possible by the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, which organized the logistics for providing the LLCS with the nutritious milk that will feed growing children in need.
For the seven elementary Downtown Eastside (DTES) schools that received the milk donation, poverty is nothing new. At Grandview Elementary, about 43% of students and their families are on government income assistance. A few blocks away at Strathcona Elementary, students and their families rely on the weekday breakfast program and the weekly Food Backpack Program, which gives students and their families enough food to get through the weekend.
At the Ray-Cam Co-operative Center, the low-income kids in their subsidized daycare program and the at-risk kids in their recreational youth programs fall into either the Strathcona or Seymour Schools catchment.
At Britannia Elementary and Xpey Elementary, many students and their families are on income assistance and live in social and/or transitional housing. Unfortunately, a high number of the vulnerable student population is Indigenous. At Tillicum Annex School and Thunderbird Elementary, the need for support is also great as students come from working-poor families.
This donation of fresh milk is significant for students from these recipient schools, where close to half the student population arrives at school unfed or without adequate clothing.
“Disadvantaged inner-city kids need food for empty tummies, socks and shoes without holes, and above all, a community that cares,” said Master Lian Tzi, President of the Lotus Light Charity Society (Vancouver).
Unfortunately, Vancouver’s inner-city schools are heavily reliant on private and corporate funding to survive each year. Moreover, Vancouver’s housing costs and low wages for many employees compound this poverty. At times, schools must scramble each year to find donors to maintain vital programs for disadvantaged children whose working poor families rely on school resources for emergency food, transit tickets, clothing, and even items like laundry detergent and toilet paper.
Anything people can do to assist inner-city schools would be a meaningful investment to the future of vulnerable school children living in Vancouver’s DTES.
The LLCS will continue to help community members in need and we welcome any generous donations and support throughout the year to bring hope to local community members struggling for a brighter future.
If you would like to support our programs and make a monetary donation, please make the cheque payable to “Lotus Light Charity Society” and mail the cheque to the following address: Lotus Light Charity Society, #200 357 E.Hastings St, Vancouver BC V6A 1P3. You can also donate online by Visa or Mastercard on our website: http://vllcs.org/en/donation/. Tax receipts are available for donations of $20 or more.
If you would like more information, please email us at llcsvancouver@gmail.com or call us at 604-685-5548. The LLCS is a non-profit organization registered with the Government of Canada. Our registration number is BN14110-4893-RR0001.