Instead of having a laugh at someone else’s expense, why not flip that saying on its head and enjoy a giggle and benefit some impoverished kids?
That’s exactly what the Richmond-based non-profit Fundamentals For Change (FFC) is aiming for when it hosts a live auction on the heels of a comedy night at Vancouver club Yuk Yuk’s on Nov. 3.
FFC is aiming to raise in the region of $6,000 from the night to help continue funding a hot breakfast program for Jamaican schoolkids in the poverty-stricken shanty town of Riverton, Kingston for another two years.
And FFC —which has been funding the program along with Jamaican Ministry of Education for the last year or so — has lined up an impressive array of gifts for the auction, which takes place after the comedy acts.
On the auction block will be: a Canucks date night package (two tickets to the game and $100 gift card to Hapa Izakaya); Joe Fortes four-course seafood dinner for four with wine pairings (value $800); brunch at Shangri La for four (value $400) and a VIP Club Night package from ThisIsBluePrint.
Ayako Turnbull, co-founder of FFC, which has been raising funds for the school in Riverton for the last few years, said the difference in the children when they receive a hot breakfast is incredible.
“I noticed myself when I was down there that many of the kids were very lethargic in the morning, some of them even sleeping, because they basically don’t get any breakfast at home before coming to school,” Turnbull told the Richmond News.
“After lunch at the school, though, they were full of life and were energetic.
“After the breakfast program was introduced, it was amazing to see the transformation in their schooling.”
The school’s lunch program is by donation from the parents, said Turnbull, but the “school principal doesn’t turn anyone away.”
Turnbull said FFC’s contribution to the program pays for two days’ worth of breakfasts per week, while the ministry pays the rest.
“More than half the school’s 130-student population comes out for the hot breakfast,” added Turnbull.
Last year, Turnbull and some of her fellow FFC members took down laptops for the school’s youth committee, along with medical supplies.
And in 2014, the group raised funds for and helped build a new playground for the schoolkids.
The school itself in Riverton — which was helped by Turnbull in 2005, when she raised funds for a new roof after the region was hit by a hurricane — is now used as a community shelter in the event of an emergency.
Just two weeks ago, Hurricane Matthew was predicted to collide with Jamaica and much of the Riverton community crammed into the school for shelter.
“They were under warning for Hurricane Matthew, but it kind of skipped off Jamaica,” explained Turnbull.
“These people generally live in homes with tin and tarp for roofs and they were all in there believing the hurricane was going to hit.”
Tickets costing $20 are available for the comedy night at Yuk Yuk’s on Thursday, Nov. 3 by going online to FFCcomedyNight.EventBrite.ca. Cash and cards will be accepted for the auction. Doors and bar open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m., with the auction running from 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
