Surrey Schools receives $50,000 United Way grant for summer programs

The United Way of British Columbia has awarded Surrey Schools with a $50,000 grant to run summer camps and provide low-barrier programming for students aged six to 12.

The new School’s Out Summer grant is focused on creating programming and opportunities for students during summer break. This is in addition to the United Way’s longtime support for after-school learning opportunities in the district over the past decade through the School’s Out initiative.

“We’re pleased to be able to provide this additional needed support for kids, families, and our community partners since summer is a time of year when services are reduced and unaffordable,” said Trisha Dulku, the United Way’s strategic initiatives manager.

“We’re really excited to work in partnership with the United Way again to help support students who really need that connection to school and community during the summer,” said Meredith Verma, manager of the district’s Community-Schools Partnership. “The district works hard with community schools and our community partners to ensure there are programs, services and seamless activities for kids.”

Announced in September, the grant will support more than 250 students in Surrey with educational summer programming, such as sports and physical activities, social and emotional learning, friendship building, leadership, art, theatre, music, dance and creative play.

The programming will include camps at Dr. F.D. Sinclair Elementary, Lena Shaw Elementary, Old Yale Road Elementary, Guildford Park Secondary, Kwantlen Park Secondary, Princess Margaret Secondary, Queen Elizabeth Secondary, and three additional sites for camps by Canada Scores, a group that also received a School’s Out Summer grant from United Way.

“We just felt so proud and honoured that the United Way recognizes the important work that we do in Surrey,” said Verma, noting the camps are hosted by the district in partnership with other community organizations. “We have well over 15 partners who are going to be participating in supporting camps, alongside the outreach workers who are most frequently at the school that they’re running the camp.

“Many of our students don’t access summer programs because financial or geographical barriers, so this really gives kids an opportunity to do sport and play-based activities close to home. The United Way is really focused on creating equitable access for our students.”

Verma said she is grateful for the grant and that it will help support camps at schools that may have unmet demand for summer programs.

“I can’t tell you how many kids go to our outreach workers asking, ‘Can we have a camp here?’” she said. “They ask for it, and sometimes we can’t meet that need but we do what we can with what we have. I think the United Way really recognizes that about Surrey.”