Category: Initiatives

Poinsettia Fundraiser

The holiday poinsettia fundraiser was a great success! Thank you to all of the parents who were able to participate and support the sale.  We made just over $1200. Way to go! Thank you to parents Jacqueline, Lisa, Greg, Jill, and Hastings own front office dynamo Maria, for their work to make it happen. The proceeds will be very helpful in funding classroom supplies including much needed mountable projectors at Hastings Elementary!

Food Security

Did you know the Hastings PAC has a Food Security subcommittee? Parent volunteers have put together some information for families with options for support in accessing healthy, low cost food as well as offering support through donations or volunteering.

Food programs available in Hastings-Sunrise

Kiwassa Food Hamper program: Contact Food Programs Coordinator Blain Butyniec BlainB@kiwassa.ca T: 604-254-5401 ext. 253

Community Food Market offers our community a mix of fruits and vegetables with prices 10% lower than wholesale costs. Held each Wednesday from 2-5 pm in Pandora Park.

Grandview Woodland Food Connection: Food Hampers delivered to individuals. COVID Emergency Food Home Delivery Program https://gwfoodconnection.com/2020/07/30/8249/
Contact gwfcnetwork@gmail.com Tel: 604-718-5895

Quest Food: https://questoutreach.org/

If you have any questions about these or other resources, please reach out to:

Offer your Support by Donating or Volunteering

Hastings Youth Council at Hastings Community Centre partnering with Give Back Van is hosting a clothing and food drive. Monday to Friday until December 18th – drop off at Hastings Community Centre – outside of the games room (to the right of the front door). Gloves, socks, scarves and new packages of face masks, non-perishable food.

KidSafe Project Society provides essential programs and services to referred Vancouver children and youth and provides support to our community through Hastings Elementary via children’s programming and food. https://www.kidsafe.ca/get-involved/donate/

Backpack Buddies is a province-wide non-profit that provides kids with groceries on Friday after school that they can take home for the weekend to support food access for the whole family.
They have increased their programs significantly since COVID.
https://www.backpackbuddies.ca/

Pacific Immigrant Resources Society supports immigrant and refugee women and children to become active participants in Canadian society. They have partnered with the United Way to offer an emergency food hub with distribution centres in South Vancouver and Burnaby. https://pirs.bc.ca/

New Gardens Completed

Have you seen the new addition to the school yard? Gardens! In the form of 11 giant planters near the undercover area!

In May 2020, over 30 families came to the school in hour-long shifts to scoop gravel, cut landscape fabric, carry plants, move trees, shovel soil, plant shrubs and spray water all while maintaining social distancing. The result is a magnificent garden that positively transforms the north side of the school.

Come check-out the plants – from Japanese maple trees to flowing grasses; native shrubs like salal and red-flowering currant to aromatic herbs such as thyme, rosemary and sage. Thanks goes out to Alison Maddaugh who designed the gardens and Jacqueline Shaben who cracked the whip. Another huge thank you goes out to teachers for highlighting the need for an outdoor teaching garden, school administration (past and present) for keeping the ball rolling, VSB School Grounds for facilitating all the deliveries, even during this time of social distancing and to Figaro’s Garden for cutting us a good deal on the plants. And last but not least, the PAC parents who fund-raised in previous years to improve the school grounds.

Update: The tables and benches were installed in August 2020.

And check out this story (in french) on Radio Canada about our garden!

Mural Completed

Our beautiful mural in the undercover area is complete!!

Check out the photos! Thank you so much to artist and Hastings alumnus Blake Wydeman! A shout out to Ms.Nina’s art club and the other students who assisted Blake. And thank you to the PAC Grounds Improvement sub-committee for making this happen!

When you are out getting some much needed fresh air and exercise, please ride or walk by and check it out!

And here’s a game: Try to match the fruit names with the pictures. They are all BC native berries:

Salmonberry
Thimbleberry
Huckleberry
Cloud berry
Salal berry
Native Trailing Blackberry

For real pros, try to match the leaves…. Enjoy!

Walking School Bus

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this initiative is on hold for 2020-2021.

Hastings PAC is delighted to support our school’s Walking School Bus program, now in its third year. The WSB provides leadership opportunities for senior students and for students to form connections between different grades and programs. It also provides a fun way for students to have additional physical activity on a daily basis, and to decrease the level of vehicle congestion around school. In an era of growing awareness around climate change, every participant in the WSB is taking steps forward to the planet we want to have in the future.

This year’s WSB is running as Team Burrardview, Team Templeton, and Team Victoria Drive. Each morning, WSB groups walk along specific routes, picking up additional students as they get closer to school. If you’re interested in joining a group or want to know about starting up your own, please email WSB planning lead Claudia Gawryluik at claudiagawryluik@gmail.com.