A Salmo business is donating more than $9,400 to help feed students at eight West Kootenay schools.
Scrap King Auto Wrecking and Towing general manager Rob Hanik said the idea came from an experience involving his daughter years ago.
She came home from school one day without her new winter boots and jacket after giving them to a friend whose family couldn’t afford winter gear.
The experience stayed with him and motivated him to find ways to help other families in need.
“Ever since then, we’ve kind of been into helping people out, and we’re now in the position of being able to really help out,” Hanik said.
He then came up with the idea of donating money to school breakfast programs and reached out to other businesses in the region to get involved.
“I got a hold of some of our customers and shops that we deal with in the surrounding area of the West Kootenays and asked if they would want to join, and they were all pretty excited about it,” he said.
The fundraiser brought in $9,441.56 over about five months, with support from YRB West Kootenay, Bill’s Heavy Duty, Castlegar Truck Service, Ernie’s Recycling and the Sutherland Group.
The money will be split evenly among eight schools across the region: Salmo Elementary, Salmo Secondary, Rosemont Elementary, Kinnaird Elementary, Fruitvale Elementary, J.L. Crowe Secondary, Webster Elementary and Glenmerry Elementary.
Each school will receive just over $1,100 to support its breakfast program.
Hanik said he believes every child should have access to breakfast before heading to class.
“I believe every kid needs to have a good breakfast before they go to school every day, and if they’re not fortunate enough to have it at home, I think it should be available for them at school,” he said.
He hopes to expand the initiative in the future, both by raising more money and potentially helping families with winter clothing.
“We wanna try and maybe do it on a little bit larger scale and work for a little bit longer time and maybe do a little bit more than a breakfast program, maybe have some set aside for some winter gear for kids that are a little bit less fortunate as well,” he said.
Hanik said other businesses interested in participating can contact Scrap King to learn more about getting involved.
“If they would like to be part of this, they can get ahold of me or George at our office Monday to Friday, eight to five, and talk to us about it,” he said.
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