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‘Starfish’ backpack program to continue in Aldergrove

The Starfish backpack program provides weekend food for hungry kids in Aldergrove.
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Township fire fighters (left) Ben Crotenko

There are children in Aldergrove who go to school hungry every day. For a variety of reasons, their parents can’t feed them properly. Knowing that hungry kids can’t learn, the schools offer breakfast and lunch programs to help these kids. But what about weekends?

The Starfish backpack program provides weekend food for hungry kids in Aldergrove. Launched for a trial period from April to June by the Aldergrove Rotary Club, 10 students in need from Parkside Elementary School and 10 from Shortreed Elementary have been going home Friday afternoons with backpacks full of nutritious and easy to prepare food for the weekend.

Thanks to a commitment by the Aldergrove Rotary Club and the ongoing support from the schools, volunteers and three Aldergrove grocery stores who provide the food at cost — Otter Co-op, Save-on Foods and Canada Safeway — the Starfish backpack program will be continued, and hopefully expanded, for the school year from this September to June 2016.

A total of $525 is the cost to provide one weekend backpack to one child every Friday for the whole school year. The goal of the Aldergrove Rotary Club is to provide backpacks to 40 or 50 children and to expand the program to include students from Betty Gilbert Middle School. For every donation of $525, one more child will not go hungry on weekends.

Please consider sponsoring one or more backpacks so more hungry kids in our community can be fed weekends for the September to June school year.

Sponsor a Starfish Pack in three ways:

To receive a tax receipt, donate online at: www.starfishpack.ca

Mail your cheque to program partner: Encompass Support Services Society: 20618 Eastleigh Crescent, Langley, B.C. V3A 4C4

If you don’t need a tax receipt, mail your cheque to the Aldergrove Rotary Club, P.O. Box 1602, Aldergrove, B.C. V4W 2V1

Be sure to specify "Starfish Program" on the cheque.

For more information on how the program works and to donate online, visit www.starfishpack.ca