It's been nearly two months since Carrie Gelson, a Grade 2/3 teacher at Seymour elementary, wrote an open letter to the people of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»on behalf of students struggling to receive an education while lacking basic life necessities.
She said she's since lost seven pounds, feels frequent guilt about neglecting her own small children, and has permanent bags under her eyes from the 30 to 40 extra hours a week she estimates she now spends dealing with the response. And for this she is extremely grateful.
"I'm still getting letters, daily emails and phone calls about it," said Gelson. "Some of it is definitely a one-off. Some people drop off a box of snack donations and we'll never hear from them again-and that's OK, we need snack donations-but some of the volunteers who have come in, I guarantee you that next year these people will still be with us."
Gelson's letter, which she wrote out of frustration over the limited resources to help underfed and underdressed inner city students, received widespread media attention and touched a nerve with many Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»residents. Although the response has been overwhelming, she said much more needs to be done.
"It's not like there is one problem or reason for all of this, so it's not like there is one solution that fixes it all. It's like the Christmas hampers we receive every year that make a real difference but it is once a year and we have a family in our school that has not enough food every week. There definitely needs to be more funding, but it also has to be smarter funding. You can't just do a quick fix and say, 'This is the answer' and slap it on every inner city school and it is going to make a difference. Different inner city schools have different needs."
It's a complicated problem, but she's hoping some solutions will be found through an open public forum being held Monday, Nov. 14, beginning at 6: 30 p.m. at the main branch of the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Public Library.
Gelson said she has taken some heat for tackling the issue at a time when B.C. teachers are under a "teach-only" job action. "People have said I should be disciplined by the union because I am fundraising during a job action. I don't have time for job action. Not that I don't respect it, but I have kids in crisis in front of me and if I am supposed to go, 'Oops I can't go talk to the principal about this,' I just can't do it. I have kids who have serious needs and that is my biggest priority."
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