By Sandra Lee
On April 26th, approximately 35 Rovers headed to Chinatown to prepare more than 800 sandwiches for those living in Vancouver’s downtown east side. As a part of Scout Canada’s Good Turn Week, this project was planned and led by Chenoa Liu and Cameron Butler who managed to get the word out about the importance of Good Turn Week. They had reached out to APO, which is a scouting fraternity at UBC, and CityTV Breakfast Television (Link) for media coverage. This project was generously funded by Scouts Canada to support us for participating in their nation-wide project.
These Rovers and volunteers got up bright and early to start making fresh sandwiches at 8am at the Strathcona Community Centre and delivered them until 3pm. In preparation for this, Chenoa and Cameron’s core team gathered all of the packaging and key ingredients the night before, which included cheese, ham, turkey, salmon, mayonnaise, tomatoes, spinach, and whole wheat bread. These lunch bags also included bananas and a bottled water. After putting the lunches together, we packed them into reusable shopping bags, organized ourselves in cars, and delivered the food in 3 routes.
This is a project that is unique to our scout group and something we do bi-annually. East Side Eats is one of the projects that gives Rovers their chance to do something good for their community.
3 REASONS WHY EAST SIDE EATS IS WORTH IT.
Rovers get the chance to give back to the community.
Doing community service is something that we all like to do. Our scout group emphasizes the importance of developing leadership and project management skills quite often, but that’s not to say that creating these kinds of projects is less important. At the end of the day, we execute community service projects because we are a scout group with members that genuinely care about making a difference that is also fun to do together.
New Rovers get the chance to see more of Vancouver
Many of our new Rovers are not from Vancouver. We have attracted a good number of international students who are also looking for a place to network, gather valuable hands-on experience, and want to volunteer. Pursuing a project such as East Side Eats exposes them to some of the problems that Vancouver faces, along with some of the solutions that the city can use. Not only would they have the chance to see a part of Vancouver that is not normally a part of a city tour, but they can see some of the people that make up an integral part of Vancouver’s personality.
East Side Eats offers a few friendly reminders.
Firstly, this projects reminds us that we don’t have to do something extravagant to make a difference. Something as simple as making a sandwich can brighten someone’s day. Secondly, it shows what a small number of people can do if we focus our attention to one mission. If a little more than 30 people can make lunches for more than 800 people, I’m curious to see what a smaller group of 10 can do! Third and finally, it reminds us that the members of our Scout group actually want to participate in events like this. We run multiple projects and events throughout the year, but it is clear that community service projects hosts the biggest turn out.
Good Turn Week, in its most simplest explanation, is an annual project that promote good deeds and acts of kindness. Much like Earth Day’s effect, I hope that Good Turn Week will have a lasting impact that would resonate past May 2nd. For more information, please visit scouts.ca and more of our related posts.
