Ending Childhood Hunger; It's in the Bag

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Andy Gregory, VCC communications -- Pop quiz: how many free lunches for needy children were bagged by volunteers over the summer at Vancouver Community College’s Broadway campus cafeteria? Answer: more than 17,000!

Through July and August, the Feeding Our Future campaign provided free, nutritious lunches for at-risk children in Metro Vancouver. From Sunday to Thursday, volunteers at VCC packed roughly 400 lunches daily for distribution to Boys and Girls Clubs day camps in the region. Camps are located in Vancouver, Burnaby, North Vancouver, Langley, Surrey, Delta and Tsawwassen.

"During the school year, many children receive free or reduced-cost lunches through hot meal programs in school," said Sodexo director of food services, Barbara Worwood. "Feeding these kids during the summer months poses a real challenge."

Dozens of VCC students, staff and faculty rose to the challenge to help Sodexo staff bag sandwiches, juice boxes, vegetables and fruit. Volunteers came from the college’s ESL programs, ASL and Deaf studies, transportation trades and others.

Feeding Our Future is an initiative founded and primarily funded by Sodexo, which operates the main cafeteria at VCC’s Broadway campus. With a student population of roughly 25,000, Vancouver Community College offers more than 140 programs and certificates, plus roughly 360 Continuing Studies courses for adult learners. Both are valued NACAS members!