rn3It’s a wonderful program that operates throughout the school year. Today it was announced that the Bowls of Hope school lunch program will be offered during the summer holidays.

Bill Raddatz with Ruth and Naomi’s Mission, who are taking the reigns of this for the summer, says they recognized the goodwill that Bowls of Hope provide, and wanted to extend that.  He says it all started with a conversation he had with the Bowls of Hope Society about whether they’d be making it a year round thing. 

“They said they can’t because unfortunately their cook goes away for the summer and works somewhere else, so I said my concern is the downtown area because the kids that need it need it in the summer months as well.  He said ‘we can’t do it, but YOU guys can do it if you can, and we’ll supply you the food as you need it, because we still get donations during the summer.'”

He says they’re expecting about 40 kids per day to start, but it will likely grow from there.

They were originally intending this for kids in the catchment areas for downtown schools, but will take ANY hungry child that comes for a meal. They just need to have a legal guardian with them. Raddatz says they’ll be serving soup and sandwiches, so any food donations, particularly sandwich meat, would be welcome, and they also need 4 volunteers per day to help serve, so give Ruth and Naomi’s a call if you’re available.  604-795-2322
It’s from 12-1 Monday to Friday at the Neighborhood Learning Centre at Chilliwack Secondary School.

Raddatz also says bottled water is a welcome donation, as they would prefer to give that to the kids, rather than soft drinks.