On Dec. 15, 2023, KWAP went down to Gordon Avenue in Coquitlam to handout winter clothing to people in need around the area.
KWAP, or Kodiaks With A Purpose, is a non-profit organization run through Heritage Woods Secondary.
The whole club was started much longer than I have been at the school, alongside the now retired teacher, Ms. Nunn.
I have been leading this club for almost two years now. This year, however, has been a special challenge after our old sponsor teacher retired.
I was overwhelmed with what to do. In the past, KWAP has gone down to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to assist the homeless community. We handed out food packages, warm clothing, hygienic products, etc. This event became the highlight of our club.
Come COVID-19, the whole operation had to get shut down due to health concerns. Post pandemic, the homeless population grew tremendously, with limited access to assistance this event, unfortunately, got shut down.
Shaking off the effects of the pandemic wasn’t easy; all last year, my fellow leaders and our sponsor teacher led smaller events within our school, such as food drives, clothing drives and buddy days for under privileged schools.
However, this couldn’t compare to all our hands on hard work done Downtown previously.
This year, I really wanted our members to have more volunteering experience immersed within our community. After all, with more than 100 members, we could help many people.
With this in mind, we started a winter clothing drive within our school for people in need.
I, with the help of my co-director Yasi Ahmadi, executive team; Tessa Hazell-Druce, Miranda Chen, Olivia Hwang, Amy Lee, Ethan Yap, Sascha Myers, Gelareh Shakibaei and our sponsor teacher Ms. Jarvis, organized an event to visit a local shelter to handout the items donated.
Volunteers of this event included myself (Hiruki Wickrama), Yasi Ahmadi, Sascha Myers, Ryan Stewart, Rose Gilani, Jaime Alexander, Athena Heshmati and Ms. Saloustros.
I can happily say it was a successful first event of the year. Hearing the stories of the people who came, and seeing the gratefulness and humility of every person was an eye-opening experience.
Before this event, I never took the time to understand the hardship some people in my community have faced.
I hope KWAP can build a further connection in the new year through more of these opportunities.
- Hiruki Wickrama, Port Moody, co-director of Kodiaks With A Purpose (KWAP)
