There are several ways in which our co-founders Daniel Greenhalgh and Colin Lacey get involved in the community. We’ve already highlighted Daniel’s sponsorship of a buckle in local reining competitions, and we’ve followed the progress of ENM’s construction of a one-of-a-kind isolation shelter for sick and injured cats for the Langley Animal Protection Society.
But there are few ways that we can be more impactful than through our involvement with the local chapter of the Rotary Club. Colin has worked with Rotary on several of their recent activities, including volunteering to act as a judge in a recent rib festival. Granted, this doesn’t involve much of a sacrifice, but there are several other volunteer duties that have had a positive impact on the community.
One of these is Rotary’s participation in the Starfish Pack program. “This program was initiated by some teachers who began to realize that a lot of their students weren’t getting enough to eat over the weekend,” says Colin. “They’d come to class on Monday morning starving or malnutritioned. So a few years ago, the Rotary Club in Abbotsford met with these teachers and with the school district and they designed a program to give these kids backpacks full of food to take home with them over the weekend.”
The Starfish Pack program has been a huge success. It’s spread to 85 schools in 18 different cities, and it’s fed nearly 1,000 kids. “The way it works is we meet every Thursday and we work together to pack hundreds of backpacks with two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners and a bunch of healthy snacks. These packs are delivered to schools on Friday and the kids who need them take them home.”
Teachers report huge improvements in these students’ reading skills, math skills and ability to focus. “There’s no learning going on when you’re just focused on being hungry.” The program is funded entirely by donations and staffed by volunteers from Rotary and other community organizations.
“The cost of this program is pretty low, and it’s organized by local business people who are skilled at implementing projects of this scale. It’s very efficient. If this was done through a government program, I guarantee you it’d be ten times the cost and a whole lot less streamlined. It’s great to be able to be involved in this kind of thing through Rotary.”
Colin is proud to be a part of the Rotary community. “The people involved are local politicians, business owners, professionals. They have good ideas and they want to work together to make valuable contributions to the community.” Rotary gives its members the chance to branch out into different kinds of skills and leadership opportunities and allows them to learn from each other. At the same time, they’re forming a community of local leaders who all have a heart for helping out.
“I’d encourage any local business person to look into getting involved,” says Colin. It’s rewarding and it’s a great way to give back to the community.”
