A Delta police officer is hoping to fill a 53-foot trailer with non-perishable food to help feed hungry kids and their families.
Const. Ken Usipiuk of the DPD’s traffic unit is hosting a food donation event on Friday, April 26 at the North Delta Public Safety Building to help raise food for the Rotary Club of North Delta’s Starfish Pack program.
On Friday, April 26, the #DPD will be accepting non-perishable food donations for the North Delta Rotary 'Starfish Pack' program. This program supports 64 students and their families from eight elementary schools. Donations can be dropped of at the North Delta PSB. pic.twitter.com/IV5Kz0XMtz
— Delta Police (@deltapolice) April 22, 2019
The program, which is run in partnership with Deltassist and the Delta School District, provides at-risk elementary students and their siblings with food to sustain them over the weekend “so that they are ready to learn come Monday morning,” said North Delta Rotary past-president Susan Gage.
“We have about 120 children, unfortunately, that are in the program,” Gage said. “I’m always happy when a child says, ‘I don’t need your food anymore.’ That’s like a blessing, that’s amazing.”
The program is simple: teachers identify students in their classrooms who may not be getting enough to eat when they are at home. After asking the parents if they would like to be part of the program, the school provides the Rotary Club with the number of students at each school who will be taking part.
Backpacks are packed up by Rotary volunteers Thursday afternoon and left at the office of each elementary school on Friday so that students can discreetly pick them up at the end of the week. The bags include ingredients for three meals a day, as well as snacks and fresh fruit.
The packs are provided to the students throughout the school year, and it costs $525 to fill a backpack with food for one kid from September to June.
READ MORE: North Delta Rotary’s Starfish Backpack program to support 90 kids this fall
Const. Usipiuk’s food drive runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, April 26 at the North Delta Public Safety Building, located at 11375 84th Ave. Both non-perishable food and cash donations will be accepted.
Donations can also be dropped off at DPD headquarters, located at 4455 Clarence Taylor Cres. in Ladner.
Anyone who can’t make it to tomorrow’s food drive but still wants to donate to the Starfish Pack program can contact Susan Gage at 778-866-0843.
— with files from Grace Kennedy
It's official trucks in place banners in place we need your help to fill this empty trailer starting tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. @deltapolice support the starfish backpack program #community pic.twitter.com/8Si14HwvcW
— Cst Ken Usipiuk (@CstUsipiuk) April 25, 2019
editor@northdeltareporter.com
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