Covenant House Vancouver

Confirmation students at Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church in Richmond decided to put their "money where their mouth was" in a unique fundraising project for Covenant House. Over one weekend, the students aged 12 - 14, raised $1200 to be used towards our matching June mailing, along with funds donated by an anonymous supporter who has pledged to match all donations to a maximum of $25,000.

According to the Church's pastor, Rev Paul Chu, the students called this fundraiser Project Snackrifice in keeping with the Lenten observance of abstinence and sacrifice. At each weekend service, the students made an appeal to the parish community to abstain from snacks during lent and donate the money they would have spent to Covenant House. After each service, students sold pictures of four snack items - chips, candy, ice cream and pop - for a donation of $1 each.

The response from the community was overwhelming according to Rev Chu mainly because "the appeal to help youth came from our youth. The benefit to our children was priceless. They didn't know the power of their appeal!"