Change starts here.
Change starts here.
When nine-year-old Margarita first moved from Bolivia to Coquitlam, she would often come home from school in tears.
“She couldn’t understand the English in the classroom and she was a bit intimidated,” says her mother, Virginia.
The family moved to the region at the beginning of 2009 to find work after both Virginia and her husband lost their jobs in La Paz, Bolivia.
Virginia watched her daughter change from being outgoing and full of opinions into a quiet, reserved child. She decided to do something about it.
She enrolled Margarita in a popular after-school program run by SHARE Family and Community Services in West Coquitlam and funded by United Way of the Lower Mainland.
“I also wanted her to meet more people her age and improve her English,” Virginia explains.
Margarita joined in mid-February and after a regular school day at Roy Stibbs Elementary, met up with other kids once a week for 45 minutes of community free play: doing art activities, reading books or playing sports.
Margarita chose the Music and Movement program, playing different instruments and taking part in a play which was performed for parents during March.
“I like to sing and play the flute,” says Margarita. “And I have new friends.”
Her mom Virginia is very pleased with the changes in her daughter.
“The program has helped her a lot, and she is more comfortable,” she says.
“Margarita is happy now because she has contact with friends. It’s important for my daughter.”
As well as Roy Stibbs, SHARE Coquitlam runs free after-school programs at
Mountain View Elementary School and works alongside Miller Park Elementary's own coordinator in a program at that school.
Noelle Retson, program coordinator for the after-school program, says: “It’s been really well accepted. We have been happy working with the schools and it’s nice to be accepted into this community.”
Noelle says they decided to run the activities in schools as comments from focus groups showed that transportation was a problem for many parents and many recreation centres are not close to where families are living. At risk children benefit by attending after-school programs.
United Way of the Lower Mainland invests in research to identify what children need for their healthy development during middle childhood. We’re helping kids by funding out-of-school programs and educational programs for parents.
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