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Starfish Pack program sponsors treated to lunch

The Daybreak Rotary Club is working to expand the Starfish Pack program for more children in need
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Gaeil Farrar photo The Daybreak Rotary celebrated sponsors of its Starfish Backpack program Wednesday by treating them to lunch to show their appreciation. Individuals, companies and community groups can give a little or a lot to the program which sends hungry children home on weekends with a backpack full of food. Pictured standing from the left are Nancy Gale, Kathy Newell, Cathy Chernoff, John Margetts, Maureen Margetts, Sheila Mortensen, George Bentley, Lorne Doerkson, Ron Malmas (Rotary), Marie Sharpe Elementary principal Calvin Dubray, Lori Macala (Rotary) and Daybreak Rotary president Connie Sauter. Pictured seated in front from the left are Helen Lockhart, Gloria Limb, Linda Bentley, Mayte Tucker and Scott Tucker.

With a little more help from the community the Daybreak Rotary Club is hoping to deliver its Starfish Pack program to 100 children in September.

The program, which sends children home on weekends and holidays with backpacks filled with food currently has 43 participants, with more requests for help that can’t yet be filled.

“We need more donations because we’d like to take the program to 100 children,” said Nancy Gale who is both a Daybreak Rotarian and the Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre’s executive director.

Because they have the resources, she said the CDC staff manages the financial end of the program.

A donation of $525 sends a child home with a backpack full of food on weekends and holidays through the whole school year.

People can sponsor a child for a whole year or donate what they can afford, Gale said.

She said it put tears in her eyes when one little boy came to the CDC and donated all of his birthday money to the program.

Gale said Daybreak Rotary buys the backpacks and all donations go directly to the purchase of food which is supplied at cost by Save-On-Foods.

Program sponsors were treated to lunch at the CDC Wednesday where the backpacks are also put together by a team of about nine volunteers.

Home Hardware owner Scott Tucker and his wife, Mayte, have been supporters of the program from the start, sponsoring 10 children with the program for the full year.

“Child welfare has been near and dear to my heart since we started helping with children’s programs in Peru,” Tucker says. “There is a need in our own backyard as well, not just in developing countries.”

The Royal Purple sponsored one child for the full year this year and is discussing sponsoring a second child, said Royal Purple member Gloria Limb.

“When we first heard about the program it was an eye opener,” Limb said. “I did a lot of research on it after reading about the program in the newspaper.”

The Starfish Pack program is delivered to children at the request of school principals and with the agreement of parents.

The program started small last fall with six children each at Cataline and Marie Sharpe Elementary schools, said Daybreak Rotary’s past president Lori Macala.

There are currently 12 students at Cataline, 27 students at Marie Sharpe and four students at Chilcotin Road elementary schools participating in the program. There is also a new request for help for 20 to 30 students at Nesika elementary and it is expected a few more requests will come from the schools currently participating in the program.

In addition to financial contributions, volunteers are a big reason why the program works, Gale said. Volunteers collect the food from Save-On-Foods, and sort and pack it into the backpacks, a job that currently takes about nine volunteers.

A nutritionist with the provincial program has developed an eight -weekend rotating supply list of food items to put in the packs each week. Each pack contains enough food for two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and healthy snacks.

Marie Sharpe elementary principal Calvin Dubray said the support is much appreciated by families who are struggling financially and children receiving the help are happier coming to school.

He said the program was explained to all of the children at Marie Sharpe and they understand that some of their peers need a little extra help. There hasn’t been any bullying or vandalism, he said.

Kathy Newell, who is also an individual sponsor, said the Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy program also puts a book in each child’s pack from the Bright Red Bookshelf program.

Daybreak Rotarian Ron Malmas, who spearheaded the program in Williams Lake said he has also spoken with Rotary groups in 100 Mile House and Quesnel who are initiating their own Starfish Pack programs.

“It’s another way for Rotary to promote health and wellness in the world,” Malmas said.