North Vancouver elementary class makes gift boxes for youth in need

A group of North Vancouver elementary students passed forward their kindness in giving back to local, in-need youth this holiday season.

The Grade 5/6 split class at École Dorothy Lynas Elementary gave more than 20 gift boxes to the North Shore Youth Safe House Monday morning.

Gift boxes included various items like pyjamas, tuques, gloves, bath bombs, canned foods, movie passes and more. But in addition to the physical donations, gift cards from the community were also given. More than $3,000 worth of goods were given to the youth house Monday.

The North Shore Youth Safe House is a place for youth ages 13 to 18 in need of a safe spot where their immediate basic needs can be met. It is part of the non-profit Hollyburn Community Services Society, who help youth, seniors, families and individuals across the North Shore.

“It felt really good, it’s a nice thing,” said Grade 5 student Eliza Hollingworth. “It’s kindness and sometimes they need it even though they don’t have that much stuff.”

Hollingworth was one of the 27 students who helped put gift boxes together to gift to the North Shore Youth Safe House.

This marks the third year the school has given back to the North Shore Youth Safe House, said École Dorothy Lynas Elementary French immersion Grade 5/6 teacher Marta Orellana.

Orellana has always been involved in charity work, but she wanted to do something to help people over the holidays and those experiencing homelessness. Then the idea sparked of connecting to the youth safe house to see if a donation with her class would be possible.

“They responded to me right away, they were really into it,” Orellana said.

“I thought that would really speak to the kids in particular,” she added. “It was a way they could maybe picture themselves in that position and have this empathy because it’s another child.”

Orellana and her students spent four weeks collecting donations, organizing them and wrapping the gift boxes to send off to the youth safe house. She was moved by how everyone in the community came together to make this happen.

“I think the message that I’ve always tried to instill in the kids is that you live in this community, and it’s not just all about you, your friends and family,” she said. “Sometimes you've got to just stop and think, ‘OK, how can we all help each other?’”

Steve Kirkby, the youth services director for the Hollyburn Community Services Society, said this year’s donation reaffirmed the good in people.

From what Kirkby has seen, this year is the biggest donation the safe youth house has seen yet from the school, double what was given last year.

Kirkby was filled with gratitude with the support again this year. He brought two vehicles to pack all the boxes and donations back to the youth safe house.

“We face challenging situations working in the social service field. There’s some tough cases sometimes that we have to support people and navigate them through. It’s moments like this that just help fuel all of us to get through those rougher times,” he said.

The donations will help support youth in the safe house by providing them necessities but also get them on their feet and connect them to resources to establish healthy independence in the community or return home safely, Kirkby said.

“[The students] were quite proud of their efforts, as they should be,” he said. “We already have a remarkable community, but it just continues to reinforce that.”

Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative. [email protected]