An Overwhelming Response

Less than three weeks ago, when I approached the Pauline Johnson PAC and Principal David Langmuir about organizing a clothing and snack drive for some of Vancouver's inner city schools, I didn't know what to expect.

I hoped the Parent Advisory Committee and the administration would support the idea. And then, when they enthusiastically did, I hoped there would be enough of a response from parents at the school to make the whole thing worthwhile.

Although I knew Pauline Johnson's parents have a history of being compassionate and generous, I had nightmares that the donations would be scarce. So scarce that I would have to call one of the three schools on our donation list and apologize to them because we didn't receive enough donations to give anything to their school. Sometimes, I imagined having to call more than one of them to apologize.

It turns out these fears were misplaced. What I really should have been worried about was not having enough volunteers to handle the hundreds of donations that rolled into the school after the Thanksgiving weekend.

Not only did parents at Pauline Johnson respond very generously in very little time, but donations were also made by families in North Vancouver, Point Grey, Burnaby, Abbotsford and, I suspect, other communities across the Lower Mainland.

Last Wednesday, when a small group of volunteers arrived at the school to sort the donations, we were faced with a small hill of garbage bags and boxes containing a mind-boggling assortment of clothing and other items.

Over the next several hours, the volunteers organized the clothes by type, plucking out items that were dirty, damaged, or just plain inappropriate, and organizing everything into bags and boxes labelled for the schools.

Six hours later, the small hill of donations had been sorted and organized as follows:

• 3 boxes of socks and tights
• 3 small bags of underwear
• 3 boxes of hats, gloves, and scarves
• 3 large bags of girls' coats
• 3 large bags of boys' coats
• 1 large bag of snowsuits (these went to Strathcona for its ski program)
• 1 bag of girls' raincoats (these went to Sir William MacDonald, in response to a special request for these items)
• 1 bag of boys' raincoats (these went to Sir William MacDonald, in response to a special request for these items)
• 3 boxes of rain boots (these went to Sir William MacDonald, in response to a special request for these items)
• 3 boxes of boys' boots 
• 3 boxes of girls' boots
• 3 bags of boys' everyday shoes
• 3 bags of girls' everyday shoes
• 3 bags of boys' running shoes
• 3 bags of girls' running shoes
• 3 large bags of boys' sweaters and fleeces
• 3 large bags of girls' sweaters and fleeces
• 3 large bags of boys' shirts
• 3 large bags of girls' shirts
• 3 large bags of boys' pants
• 3 large bags of girls' pants
• 3 bags of skirts and dresses
• a wide assortment of board games (these went to Strathcona, in response to a special request for these items)
• a wide assortment of sporting goods, including skis, helmets, shin pads, skates, and even a snowboard (these went to Strathcona, in response to a special request for these items)
• 1 large box and 2 medium bags of snacks
• 1 bag of Halloween costumes
• 1 bag of belts and hats
• 1 bag of backpacks and purses
• 1 small box of blankets

On Thursday, a couple of volunteers washed some items that needed some extra TLC, and on Friday, the donations were squished into three vans and delivered to the three Eastside schools.

I can't tell you how good it felt to contact the principals ahead of time to warn them to expect a larger quantity of donations than anticipated.

Thank you to everyone for understanding the need, opening your hearts and closets, and giving such an amazing array of clean, good quality, new and gently used items. I have no doubt that your generosity will help dozens, if not hundreds, of families in need.

I hope we can do it again next year.