Crosstown Elementary is a new urban school in downtown Vancouver. Enrolling Kindergarten to Grade 7 students for the first time in September 2017, Crosstown Elementary is located in a growing urban area of Vancouver, BC.  Intersecting the communities of Gastown, Chinatown, and Yaletown, Crosstown Elementary currently serves a diverse student population of approximately 320 in-catchment students (30% ELL, 10% Ministry identified).

In February 2020, we donated the following to Crosstown Elementary School:

• Watercolour paper – 500 sheets of 9×12 (they come in 100 sheet packages)
• Paint brushes – 2 x 60 brush package
• Liquid watercolour paint – 5 x 6 colour set
• Paint palettes – 24
• Liquid Acrylics – 1 set of 12 colours
• Drawing paper – 480 sheets of drawing paper
• Mixed Media paper – 500 sheets of 9×12
• Crayola Electric Pencil Sharpener – 1
• White Crayons – 24
• Sharpie markers – 24
• Black artists erasers – 20
• Plexiglass sheets for print making – 3
• Gel plates for print making – 3
• Speedball ink for print making – 1 set of 6 colours
• Brayers for print making – 3

On December 29, 2019, we donated:

• • 20 sets of cardboard
  • 15 sets of hot glue guns and glue
  • 2 boxes of duct tape
  • 1 box of painter’s green tape
  • 1000 popsicle sticks
  • 12 x 300 boxes of plastic drinking straws
  • 10 boxes of variety binder clips
  • 10 boxes of velcro hook and loops
  • 3 x 80 packs of EVA foam sheets
  • 5 boxes of variety neodymium magnets
  • 1 box each of batteries (AAA, AA, D, C, and watch cells)
  • LED lights (variety of colors, pins, that connect to conductive tape)
  • 10 rolls of conductive copper tape
  • 3 rolls of fishing line
  • 2 boxes of bamboo skewers
  • 1 box of toothpicks 
  • Fabric
  • 1 box of brass fasteners
  • 400 pieces of hard stock paper
  • 3 x 25 packs of heavy poster board
• 5 skipping ropes
• 5 soccer balls
• 5 bouncy balls
• 5 hula hoops
• 20 badminton rackets
• 10 badminton birdies
• 10 board games (Connect 4, cards, Uno, Trouble)
• 1 kettle
• 20 mugs
• 20 tea spoons

On February 6, we donated:

• 6-10 wiggle cushions
• 5 velcro rolls for picture symbols
• Art supplies (paper, paint, paint brushes, chalk, pastels, glue, hot glue guns)
• 5 noise canceling headphones
• 24 umbrellas for students
• 10 rain boots (various sizes for K-3 classes)
• 10 Old iPad chargers
• 2 bean bag chairs
• 20 rain ponchos (various sizes)
• 6 standing desks
• 2 cookie sheets
• 2 muffin tins
• 3 sets of measuring cups
• 3 sets of measuring spoon
• 5 spatulas
• 5 mixing spoons
• 10 New iPad chargers

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: Lord Selkirk Elementary is the largest and most diverse Enhanced Services (formerly known as Inner City) school in Vancouver.  We are an inclusive school and have a student body of 650, 29 classes and several special programs including Strong Start Early Learning Program and an Early French Immersion Program. Selkirk celebrated turning 107 years old in 2018 and is a central hub within the Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood. Our families come from diverse cultural, social and economic backgrounds, but we are one family at Selkirk. Our students are engaged in all aspects of learning, be it academic, athletic or social-emotional. We are a health-minded school and our students spend a fair amount of non-academic time outside or in the gym. We started a gardening program last year, and plan on continuing with it again this year. We also have a very active library. Our students spend time before and after school, as well during classroom time reading, looking things up on the computer or socializing with friends. Selkirk is a great place to learn!

On February 8, we donated 30 basketballs to Hastings Community Elementary School! They are a school who is very passionate about basketball and we had a wonderful time presenting these donations to the basketball teams. They were very excited to start using them!

As the largest inner city school in Vancouver with over 600 students, we are always looking for ways to engage our students in healthy alternatives. We would very much need a class set (30) basketballs. Hastings is a ‘basketball’ school and our students enjoy playing before and after school as well as during recess and lunch. Your kind gift would go a long way to getting more basketballs into the hands of our neediest students.

On August 31, 2018, we donated:

• 182 binders
• 15 packs of binder dividers
• 75 notebooks
• 42 folders
• 16 rulers
• 7 luxury backpacks
• 2 luxury duffel bags
• 22 pencil cases
• 24 pencils
• 12 pencil sharpeners
• 10 scissors
• 2 laptop cases
• 1 calculator
• 1 locker shelf
• 30 erasers
• 12 glue sticks
• 2 bags of markers
• 1 coloured pencil set
• 2 drawstring bags
• 50 cards with envelopes

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION: Eden is a small group of Christians living in Downtown Eastside (DTES) rooted in a local church by the name of Coastal. We seek to positively impact our Downtown Eastside neighbourhood by living long-term and intentionally in close proximity to hurting individuals and families. Eden focuses on the toughest neighbourhoods. We desire to bring positive transformation to DTES where many individuals and families struggle with material poverty, homelessness, poor health, addictions, mental illness, low education achievement, inequality, and oppression. Our team lives right in the heart of the community. Our first priority is reaching young people through long-term relationships to provide support, love, and encouragement so that they may realize their full potential as individuals part of a diverse community. With this approach, we hope to help prevent young people from walking into an unfulfilled and purposeless life that can lead to isolation, depression, habitual crime and/or addiction. We believe reaching our young population can help the transformation of the wider neighbourhood.

On May 22, 2018, the kids at Waverley were beyond thrilled to receive our second round of donations to them! In total, we donated:

• 600 oil pastels
• 288 pencils
• 60 dry erase markers
• 48 fine point sharpies
• 40 erasers
• 35 duo-tangs 
• 24 magnetic whiteboard erasers
• 24 glue sticks 
• 10 binders 
• 1 gallon of liquid glue

On January 26th, 2018 we had the opportunity to deliver a bunch of books to Waverley Elementary today for their Mock Caldecott. It will help teach students about the value of reading, art, and other important life skills! Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible  We are also collecting more items for their school (see the item registry above). 

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: Waverley Elementary is a Kindergarten to grade 7, ‘inner-city’ school with approximately 420 students. Our staff is committed to providing programs that support students with learning through a social-emotional lens, including school-wide goals on enhancing our awareness and understanding of Aboriginal culture and histories. Our students have a variety of diverse needs including many ELL students who also engage in Heritage language development. We are focused on creating/maintaining a positive, supportive and reflective school climate. We are also committed to ‘Early Intervention’ and we use the Reading Recovery program with our grade 1s. Our parent community is actively involved with our school, and we continue to enhance classrooms with volunteers, collaborative workspaces and hands-on technology opportunities.

We are excited to announce that in December 2018, we donated:

• 33 warm blankets
• 20 hand knit baby toques
• 2 pairs of baby booties
• 1 pillow

BabyGoRound is an idea born out of the need to give back to those who may need it the most – new mothers with newborn babies and children aged 0-4 years. The arrival of a new baby for most woman is a joyous time filled with celebration, anticipation, baby showers and wonderful gifts of new clothing, baby gear, and the required essentials needed to care for a newborn and young child. However, for many women, this is not the case, and the arrival of their newborn is fraught with worry about not being able to provide their baby with what is needed for their early development. BabyGoRound is dedicated to providing Lower Mainland families in need with essential equipment, clothing, and products for their infants and young children. These items are delivered through a network of qualified social service partners in the community. The goal of BabyGoRound is to help mothers access the essentials they need to ensure the well-being of their babies and young children. By providing concrete resources to their families through a network of social service professionals. The stress of having a new baby can be alleviated for those mothers who are struggling financially. As families fall below the poverty line, these services become even more critical. The items they require are all around us – perhaps they are in your child’s room, still unused or in storage, or perhaps you are about to throw them away – please don’t. Instead, we want to create a home for these items and to pass them on to people who require these gently used or new items for their children.

On May 25th, 2017 we made a delivery to Harry Hooge Elementary! We collected and donated all the items that were requested (mainly different games, sporting equipment, and sensory equipment for students with autism and sensory needs), plus more fun games and toys for the kids! These included:

• Fidget toys
• Social/emotional Learning Books
• Any sports equipment for recess and lunch play:
  • Volleyballs
  • Basketballs
  • Footballs
  • Soccer balls 
  • Flying discs
• Theraputty and Playdough
• Jenga games – for building and creative play
• Beanbag chairs – these chairs help create a safe place when students are having a bad day and benefit from a cozy corner
• Keva blocks
• Wiggle Cushions
• Board and card games – to be used during breakfast club and class time
• Lego – for classrooms during breaks and for building and creative play

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: Harry Hooge School is located in central Maple Ridge, BC. We have 430 students in grades K-7. Our school has a breakfast program and lunch program to assist our students who come to school hungry. Approximately 10% of our population lives below the poverty line and many of our families struggle to make ends meet. Our school has more students designated with special needs than any other school in Maple Ridge. According to MDI research conducted by UBC, 27% of our students score low in the well-being index (measuring physical health and social and emotional development).

On April 27, 2017, YNOTFORTOTS and Trafalgar Elementary donated: 

• 20 Snap Circuits (to teach students about electricity).
• 26 8×10 frames
• 50 black & 50 white mats
• 100 30 cm x 35 cm watercolor sheets
• 100 clear plastic sleeves
• 6 bowls
• 12 wooden spoons
• 4 measuring cups & spoons
• tupperware containers for dry goods

A huge thank you to Mr. Alex Wells for an incredible performance at Seymour Elementary on October 5th! All the kids and staff greatly enjoyed his scintillating performance and workshops with the kids!

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: Seymour Elementary School is a caring community of staff, students and parents.  We are committed to promoting academic excellence in a culturally diverse setting.  We adhere to the philosophy that all students can learn and encourage our children to become socially responsible citizens. At Seymour School, we are: mindful of ourselves, mindful of this place, and mindful of others. commercial shops, and the unique combination of restored heritage and social housing. We enroll approximately 115 students in 6 divisions with an additional three classes for a start-up school. Our community is truly multicultural and diverse with significant numbers of English Language Learners, Aboriginal children, & those with special learning challenges. Click below to find out what donations we are collecting for this school!

Co-founders Mohit Sodhi and Lindsay Richter, as well as YNOTFORTOTS UBC president Conrad Bayley and VP Finance Jason Roh, had an awesome time meeting all the kids of John Henderson Elementary. The kids had prepared incredible thank-you performances for us, including singing, playing the djembes, and dancing the Juju on That Beat! We donated:

• 15 size 3 basketballs
• 10 microscopes
• 15 scooter-boards
• 10 African drums
• 15 ukuleles

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: We want to welcome all students, staff, and parents to John Henderson Elementary School. Our school is committed to supporting engaged learners and fostering a caring and inclusive school community. We welcome learners of all types and invite you to contact our staff to learn more about the wide range of excellent educational programs and services we offer at our school. Our mission at John Henderson Elementary School is to encourage students to respect themselves and others and to strive to do their personal best in all ways. Each of the citizens of the Henderson Elementary School community is expected to be safe, be fair, and be kind! 

On June 14th we had the opportunity to go to Queen Alexandra Elementary School and deliver our donations (which were worth over $1000!) A huge thank you to those who donated to YNOTFORTOTS during our past fundraisers, we couldn’t have done it without you! We acquired the following items for Queen Alexandra Elementary School:

• 10 basketballs.
• 10 soccer balls.
• 10 skipping ropes.
• 5 frisbees.
• 5 buckets of sidewalk chalk.
• 5 large bottles of bubble soap.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: The Queen Alexandra F.A.M.I.L.Y. (Fine Arts Multicultural Integrated Learning for Youth) is an Enhanced Services School (previously called an Inner City School). We are a Tier 1 school, meaning our students have the highest needs and most vulnerable. Students are frequently living in poverty and do not have the same degree of exposure or opportunities as the majority of students attending Vancouver schools. We have a diverse population with 85 Aboriginal students, 80 English language learners and 50 students with special needs. We greatly appreciate the support from our community partners to help provide opportunities to these students that their families may not otherwise be able to provide. We find that physical activity at recess and lunchtime helps build healthy students and develop physical skills to ensure positive participation. The items our item registry are to support this healthy living lifestyle.

We donated a trampoline for a young non-verbal boy with autism at the Our House Child Care Center as well as some stuffed animals and some fun games!

ABOUT THE CENTRE: The Mount Pleasant Community Centre Association is a Non-Profit Organization that provides Licensed Childcare Programs to a 49 space daycare, 160 space Preschool and 65 spaces Out of School Care. The MPCCA currently employs 32 staff members. They exist to provide safe, affordable, high-quality child care for infants, toddlers, preschool and school-age children. They aim to create programs that continually meet the developmental needs of each child while benefitting the child, family, staff, and community.

We acquired the following items for the Our House Child Care Centre:

• 1 40-inch trampoline with handrails.
• Extra items we donated: many children’s games and stuffed animals.