Penticton Starfish Pack program thanks KVR Middle School Grade 7 class for continued support

Students help feed others

Photo: Tracy Van Raes

Penticton's KVR Middle School Grade 7 students finished off their work helping out at the Elks Lodge with packing the last Starfish bags of the year on Wednesday.

Starfish Pack provides backpacks filled with food to kids in the community who may be experiencing food insecurity to ensure they have enough over the weekends during the school year.

The Rotary Club of Penticton started the Starfish Pack Program in April 2017 as a response to teachers being concerned over local elementary school kids.

The Elks Lodge helps house the food and pack the bags every week for them. The program greatly relies on community support to keep food in young kids' bellies.

Tracy Van Raes, chair of the Starfish Pack program, said the students have continued to come back to help, after previously raised a few hundred dollars through a bakesale towards the program during the Real Acts of Caring (RAC) Week.

"We celebrated our volunteers (KVR kids, Rotarians and elks packers) with a pancake breakfast with meat donated by Grimms," she shared.

Then the elks surprised the Rotary with a $5000 donation to starfish, which is an enormous help.

The packs are delivered to 13 schools to support about 110 kids a week and their families.

For more information about the Starfish Pack program, visit www.starfishpack.com

Photo: Tracy Van Raes