Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
That’s why Parkview Elementary School’s parent advisory council (PAC) is continuing to fundraise for its breakfast program all year.
PAC president, Siobahn Rich, was out collecting bottles on Sept. 25 on the final day of the PAC’s latest bottle drive. Bottles are sorted and recycled by volunteers, and the deposits received in return all go back to the breakfast program.
Every day, volunteers assemble 10 breakfast trays, one for each class at Parkview. The trays always contain things like muffins, granola bars, bagels, and fresh fruit so any student can have a well-rounded meal.
If you missed this bottle drive, there’s no need to worry. Rich said she lives on an acreage, and has room to store bottles donated at any time.
Bottle drives aren’t the only way Parkview PAC is raising money for its breakfast program. It teamed up with local grocer, Askew’s, for a receipt-based donation program.
For every $5,000 in Askew’s receipts the PAC collects, Askew’s will donate $20 in the form of a gift card to the breakfast program.
“Everyone’s shopping and eating, but it’s hard to get the receipts,” said Rich.
However, Joey and Becki Delasalle had the idea to build and install a receipt donation box in front of Parkview. Now, all people have to do is drive by after they shop and drop their receipt in the box.
Rich said it’s a large undertaking to run a breakfast program for over 200 students, and even though they’re not cooking bacon and eggs every morning, it comes at a significant cost. She estimates the PAC will have to raise over $4,000 to run the breakfast program all year.
However, the PAC won’t back down from the challenge.
“It’s so important,” said Rich.
She and the PAC are open to folks helping the breakfast program almost any way they can. One of the only exceptions right now is they can’t accept home-baked goods due to COVID-19.
“I had a lady last week who went to Costco and brought us a big box of food, we have a freezer at the school to store it,” said Rich.
“We take fruit and veggie donations too. Last week someone donated like, eight watermelons which we absolutely loved. And we had a family from Salmon Arm donate $125 cash.”
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