BY SONJA DRINKWATER
Special to the News
The Salvation Army was recently presented with a cheque for $2,500 from the RBC Foundation. Port Alberni RBC bank manager Leona Horvath applied to the RBC Foundation to be able to assist the Salvation Army.
Captain Michael Ramsay said they are serving 400 people a meal a day (they have done this 67,000 times since March!) as well as distributing hot meals, groceries and hygiene kits. This donation was greatly appreciated, especially during a time when the need has increased.
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Melody Burton, the ADSS Breakfast Club coordinator, was over the moon with a generous donation of $5,000 from a former Alberni Valley resident, Andrew Johns. Johns and his wife Crystal wanted to help this community that he grew up in, especially when they heard that there were children going to school without the benefit of a good breakfast.
“It is gutwrenching for kids going to school hungry. I was talking to (city councillor) Deb Haggard and said that I wanted to give back to the community I grew up in,” Johns said. “She suggested the ADSS Breakfast Club, that was when I made my decision to donate to the breakfast club.”
Haggard said that she had seen a presentation about the ADSS Breakfast Club at a Rotary meeting and this had her thinking about the need in our community. “I had just been elected to city council and Johns wanted to meet with the new city council and we were out for coffee,” she recalled. “After we met he called me and said that he and his wife always donate to a charity every year and he had heard about the Breakfast Club and wanted to know if I knew anything about it.
“I did, as I had heard Melody Burton at a Rotary meeting and so had the statistics for him. He said it was a really good fit as he likes to donate to organizations that are geared towards youth,” said Haggard.
“I brought a few of my employees here to go salmon fishing and we were extremely successful in our angling,” Johns added.
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Save-On-Foods in Port Alberni is hosting a fundraiser between Oct 1–15 for the ADSS Breakfast Club. Shoppers will be able to donate to the breakfast club by rounding up their grocery order. Any donation will be greatly appreciated.
