Apple Crisps for the Community 

This week, members of the Community Service Club spent time baking apple crisps at Little Kitchen Academy and then delivered these treats to homeless shelters in the Downtown Eastside. We set out to do this with the mission to bring a bit of joy to the community for the winter holidays. 

On Tuesday, December 2, a group of grade 6 and 7 students went to Little Kitchen Academy to bake the crisps. We made approximately 50 crisps to donate. It was a really wonderful experience to spend time with fellow Wolves with a shared passion and excitement to give back in our community. Little Kitchen Academy was very generous and donated to this effort as well. We are very grateful to them for partnering with us and for their support.

On Wednesday, December 3, a few grade 7s from Community Service Club visited the Downtown Eastside to share what we made. The shelters where we handed them out included Sister Space, Budzsy, and Vivian House. The shelters help mainly women and children in need along with families.

We learned that visitors to these shelters are typically homeless because of poverty and addiction. They often have no choice or have experienced a really bad situation, one that was beyond their control. Many of them don’t have a choice to be there and they really appreciate a cheerful message, especially around the holiday season.

While we were in the Downtown East Side area, we met two of the police members that work with the shelters. We met Arezo Zarrabian, who is part of the Vancouver Police community outreach program and parent of Rana in 1HD, and Police Constable Cindy Lavallee, who is a community outreach police officer specializing in outreach for vulnerable women. They shared this story with us: on their short walk between the first and the second shelter to help deliver the crisps, someone on the street asked them, “Are you the pie ladies?” It showed how fast word travels and how our Community Service Club made an impact. They also shared that a few of the vulnerable women who received the apple crisps said that this was the kindest thing that happened to them in a very long time.