For the third time in four years, West Van Academy student-athletes, coaches, parents, sibling and billets, spent their Thanksgiving distributing meals to those less fortunate in the Downtown East side of Vancouver, BC.
“We initially tried to volunteer at a food bank, however the waiting lists were long and our group size was more than the normal individual or small group that those organizations could handle,” said Director Nathan Fischer. “We figured, let’s do something ourselves then and came up with the plan to create meals and distribute them in the Downtown East side of Vancouver on Thanksgiving Monday.”
The first year the academy delivered more than 200 meals. That number grew to more than 400 meals in year two, before reaching the 500 meals mark this year.
This year, with support from their education partner North Shore Academy (NSA), NSA has incorporated this project into their Leadership and Personal Development curriculum, and has assisted West Van by allowing them to use their facilities to make all the meals, and helping to distribute the meals.
“We have overwhelmingly positive feedback from families about how big of an impact this day has on their children,” said Fischer. “Some of our objectives are around leadership, empathy, understanding, and about being fortunate and appreciative for what we have every day.”