It was a full house at the Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier in North Vancouver Thursday evening as people came together to raise a hefty chunk of cash for local charities helping families and children.
The North Shore Waterfront Gala raised more than $285,000 last week through ticket sales, sponsorships, donations and auction proceeds.
North Shore Crisis Services Society (NSCSS) and Backpack Buddies will each receive $50,000, said chair of the gala Alexandra Schaff.
Schaff has been organizing the annual fundraising event since 2014, taking on the task to help families and children.
“The gala is personally near and dear to my heart because I’m a North Shore girl. I was born at Lions Gate [Hospital], I always lived on the North Shore,” Schaff said. “I’m just a huge proponent of helping those in need.”
Not all donations are counted yet, she said, as the two North Shore charities will receive donations attendees made at their tables from “Fund A Need” cards. The remaining funds will support other local charities through an endowment fund the gala has established through the North Shore Community Foundation, she said.
The waterfront gala was created in 2013 by Jim Belsheim, former president at Neptune Terminals. Other waterfront terminals like Fibreco, Pembina, Seaspan and SSA Marine joined Neptune in the effort shortly after, and that's where the gala's major funding comes from today.
Each year, the gala committee puts a call out for North Shore-based charity organizations to apply for consideration. Then, gala organizers narrow down the list to the top three or five charities that fit the criteria of helping families and children locally.
Schaff said this is the third year in a row helping the NSCSS and Backpack Buddies.
“As a surprise, we announced at last year’s gala that we would continue to support them for a third year, which they were so excited,” she said.
Some of this year’s live auction items included a colourful bear painting by artist Jordan Perkins, a dinner with members of District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services and more. There was also a prize of seeing Australian-American country singer Keith Urban in Vancouver.
Since 1979, the North Shore Crisis Services Society has been helping women and children in need who are leaving abusive relationships. They provide emergency shelter, longer-term housing solutions and preventative education to women and children leaving domestic abuse and violence on the North Shore.
Sandra Lee, communications and development manager for NSCSS, said the donations have gone a long way in not only helping them continue to provide the services they offer, but also to expand their presence in the community. The funding has helped the charity to grow their emergency funds to address urgent needs a lot more quickly, like providing families a mattress when they move into a permanent home, buying baby formula or replacing laundry machines at their facility, she said.
“The gravity of the work that these donations allow our frontline staff to do is quite literally life changing,” Lee said. “Gender-based violence or domestic violence can affect anyone.”
NSCSS has seen a growing need for their services over the last few years. Over the past year alone, the charity has helped more than 250 women and families leave their abusive homes, Lee said.
Backpack Buddies provides meals and snacks for kids to last them the weekend if they live with families who may be battling food insecurity.
Emily-anne King, executive director of Backpack Buddies, said donations will help the organization continue to provide kids across the North Shore with food to bring home for the weekend all school year long.
Currently the charity helps 77 children across the North Shore weekly during the school year, she said.
“It’s a big undertaking, and these donations will really make sure that we’re able to show up for those kids and provide them with not only food, but consistency, and dependability that we will be there week over week for them,” King said.
The charity has grown since its launch in 2012, helping children across the province. According to their website, more than 6,000 kids get food from Backpack Buddies weekly, and 380 schools and distribution partners take part in the good cause.
A report released last year found 254,000 children in B.C. lived in food insecure households in 2022. It’s an alarming number that Backpack Buddies wants to change, King said.
Schaff said the gala helps raise awareness for organizations like NSCSS and Backpack Buddies while also raising money.
“I think there’s a real perception, especially with Backpack Buddies or forms like that, where people think ‘If you live on the North Shore, everyone over there is loaded,’ but that’s not the case,” Schaff said.
“We work months and months to get to this point,” she added. “We all love it, and we care about each other, and it’s really great to get to this night.”
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.
https://bsky.app/profile/abbyluciano.bsky.social
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