If the “big one” were to hit tomorrow, students and staff at Lakeview Elementary would be left without any supplies for the first 72 hours.
Parents at Lakeview Elementary are scrambling to restock the school’s emergency supplies kit after someone pillaged the school’s storage bin sometime during the summer.
It was school principal Frankie Devita who discovered the supplies were gone while doing a supply check last month. When Devita alerted the school’s Parent Advisory Council (PAC) of the theft, many of whom had helped collect the donated items in the emergency preparedness kit, the parents were crushed to hear someone would steal such important provisions.
“We’re still a little bit confused (how the supplies were taken). Our theory was it was impenetrable, but if people want something bad enough or they think there’s something good in there, they’ll do whatever it takes to get in,” said Tammy Marchioni, one of the parents who helped put together the potentially life-saving supply kit seven years ago.
Among the supplies, all donated by North Vancouver business 4 Corners Services, were four 20 feet by 10 feet sided canopies, two 12 feet by eight feet tents, 25 to 30 wind-up flashlights, 10 wind-up radios, 300 emergency space blankets, 12 level two first aid kits, a collection of spades and shovels, a sledge hammer, safety vests, an army cot, folding chairs and tables. Marchioni estimates the entire stock was worth about $8,000 to $10,000.
These and other items were all kept in a secured steel storage bin installed on a large cement pad in the southeast corner of the field behind Lakeview Elementary.
While the thieves left behind some items, including water for medical use, all the big-ticket supplies were taken. Marchioni, whose youngest daughter is in Grade 7 at Lakeview, isn’t sure how she and the other parents are going to be able to replace everything that was taken.
“It would be great if we could get some kind of community support. It is my last year at this school, so I would like to be able to leave some kind of legacy,” Marchioni said.
Without the supplies, the students at Lakeview are left vulnerable until the parents can rebuild the stock, and the school district doesn’t provide funding for emergency supplies either, she added.
“I think it really has to be a collective agreement, so to speak, between the parents, the PAC, the community, the teachers,” Marchioni said.
Now, parents at the school are looking to the public in hopes of collecting donations for the emergency preparedness kit. They are appealing to anyone in the community to contact Lakeview Elementary if they’re interested in donating items, Marchioni said.
“We’ll take anything. We have to rebuild this,” she said. “It’s just really sad and unfortunate that somebody would do something like (this).”
Anyone interested in donating cash or items to help restock Lakeview’s emergency preparedness kit is encouraged to contact Devita at 604-664-8735.
