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Surrey students sell hand-drawn colouring books to help Homelessness and Housing Society

Community Leader awards for Grade 6/7 kids at Kirkbride Elementary, and also Cody Jacques
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Kirkbride Elementary Grade 6/7 students in a video announcing Surrey Homelessness & Housing Society’s 2021 Community Leaders. (YouTube)

Surrey school students have been named Community Leaders by Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society (SHHS), along with a man “who has been involved with supporting Surrey’s youth in, and from, care since the time he was a youth himself.”

The organization’s 2021 award winners are Cody Jacques and some Grade 6/7 students from Kirkbride Elementary.

Students of the school’s SCORES after-school program “have proven themselves to be skilled young social enterprisers” who designed and created their own hand-drawn colouring books to sell to their community, donating the $2,200 raised to SHHS for community projects, a bio explains.

“These entrepreneurial young people were inspired to help support their community. Working together with the guidance of their program coaches, they came up with this innovative idea to apply their skills for the benefit of others. SHHS would like to acknowledge these compassionate students – they serve as an inspiration to us all and should be extremely proud of their accomplishment.”

Their work is explained in a video posted to the SurreyHomeless channel on YouTube.

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Meantime, Jacques worked with Surrey Poverty Reduction Coalition’s Connecting Community to Surrey Youth Leaving Care project from 2016-2020, giving his “valuable knowledge, perspective, and experience to the many impactful initiatives of the project that supported Surrey’s youth with experience in the government care system,” a bio says.

“Cody made the transition from a youth participant to a major member of the project team. He was part of the Planning Committee, most Working Groups, and he facilitated the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) meetings, ensuring other YAC members had the support they needed to attend and participate.

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PICTURED: Community Leader award winner Cody Jacques in video posted by Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society. (YouTube)

“During his work, Cody completed a bachelor’s degree in Child and Youth Care and is currently employed with the Ministry of Child and Family Development. Cody is currently working on applying for a master’s degree which he will pursue in 2022. He continues to be a kind, understanding and committed mentor for Surrey’s youth, and a shining example of what it means to be an SHHS Community Leader. SHHS would like to thank Cody for the positive impact he continues to make on the lives of Surrey’s youth.”

Online at surreyhomeless.ca, the SHHS works to raise, manage and distribute funds to support programs, projects and initiatives “that build capacity and make a difference in the lives of people who are experiencing or who at risk of homelessness in Surrey.”

• READ MORE, from June 2021: Elford to join Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society as a director.



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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