Lotus Light Children Assistance Plan (CAP)
Lotus Light Children Assistance Plan (CAP) is specifically established to help inner-city school students from impoverished families.
The CAP program is derived from many programs and initiatives to support students from low-income family in our inner-city schools since 2013.
– Lotus Light has run special food programming to support inner-city school students with the Children Nutrient Backpack program, over 22,000 lbs of food had been donated to the Strathcona Community Centre’s Children Food Security program and many other inner-city school’s food programs between 2013 – 2020.
– The Children Nutrient Backpack program is expanded to Children Food Hamper initiatives for inner city schools during the COVID-19 Pandemic, over 1,700 hampers with household items and foods have been distributed to students from low income families since 2020.
– Since 2021, the “Lotus Light Care: gift cards for low – income student families program” and the new Children Assistance Plan had donated a total of $22,000 value gift cards to low income students in ten inner-city schools of the Vancouver School District.
Lotus Light Children Food Backpack Program
Each week, the LLCS donates over 100 pounds of non-perishable food items to support Strathcona Community Centre’s Children Food Backpack Program.
According to the 2020 BC Child Poverty Report Card, British Columbia’s child poverty rate is slightly higher than the national child poverty rate. School-aged children in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) are especially affected and are often left without enough food for the weekend, forcing their families to work greater hours to support the family.
In 2020, many school-aged children were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic; many students relied on their schools to provide them with enough free and nutritious meals for the week, helping relieve them and their families of food insecurity. However, when schools shut down to reduce the spread of the virus, students were forced to stay home and faced even greater circumstances of food insecurity, making this program especially important.
Since its inception in 1993, the LLCS has been fulfilling the dream and humanitarian vision of its founder, Buddhist Grand Master Sheng-Yen Lu, to provide help and comfort to people in need. Under the guidance of Master Lian Tzi, president of Lotus Light Charity Society (Vancouver), the Charity invites its members and the general public to support the Children’s Food Backpack Program by donating through our website. We also welcome corporate sponsors to donate items such as:
- Canned fish
- Canned or dried beans and lentils
- Soy products
- Low sodium soups
- Whole wheat and whole grain pasta
- Whole wheat and whole-grain crackers
- High fibre breakfast cereal with no or little sugar
and other nutritious non-perishable food items to the program. Please contact us at 604-685-5548 or email: llcsvancouver@gmail.com
The LLCS would like to sincerely thank all financial sponsors, generous donors, partner community service organizations, partner food distribution networks, and all our volunteers for your continuous and generous support.