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Saanich school, North Saanich church team up to support Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank

Drawing on a Chinese New Year tradition, the institutions raised more than $2,400 dollars
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Student Jasper Dolan and educational assistant Gabrielle Featherby helped Lakeview Christian School raise $1,213 for Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank. (Lakeview Christian School/Submitted)

Students at Lakeview Christian School in Saanich and a North Saanich church have given Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank reason to feel bullish about 2021, the Year of the Ox, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

Drawing on the Chinese New Year tradition of gifting bright red envelopes stuffed with money, the school’s student body raised $1,213 dollars in cash over the course of several weeks.

“Everybody helped in some way,” said Scott Bastien, the school’s principal.

North Saanich’s Rest Haven Seventh-day Adventist Church (a supporter of the food bank) then matched the school’s donation.

Gabrielle Featherby, educational assistant, said the fundraising campaign started in January, with the school holding a raffle event on Friday, Feb. 12, Chinese New Year.

RELATED: Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank faces higher demand, fewer donations

“We were talking about how important it is to support your community,” she said, when asked about the messaging to students. “We also talked about how important it is to care for the (less well-off) and love each other as God loves us.”

Bastien said the school has supported the food bank in the past, collecting goods in recycle bin sized containers for the food bank last Christmas.


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wolfgang.depner@peninsulanewsreview.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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