Canley Cup Comes to a Close
Photo Credit: Suwhan Hsu
With winter break approaching, the annual initiative known as the CANley Cup has taken place once again. This district-wide event is planned and hosted by the Vancouver District Student Council (VDSC) with the goal of collecting non-perishable food items for the Vancouver community.
Through both canned goods and monetary contributions, Vancouver School Board (VSB) secondary schools, including Hamber, participate in the event. The profits provide families, students, and citizens with programs and resources for the approaching holiday season.
To fundraise, schools across Vancouver compete to promote donations and awareness. As the competition comes to a close, the secondary school that collects the most cans of food will win the CANley Cup trophy.
This year, Hamber’s CANley Cup consisted of three main events coordinated by Student Council (StuCo): Bring Your Own Mug, Holiday Grams, and the Holiday Marketplace.
StuCo sponsors Ms. G. Lau (LLC) and Ms. S. Lemmon (LLC) agreed that all three Canley Cup events were an “absolute blast” for the Hamber community. The Holiday Marketplace is “by far [their] favourite”, as the festive vibe and atmosphere bring them joy.
The first Canley Cup event, Bring Your Own Mug (BYOM), occurred on Nov. 29. Students could purchase a cup of hot chocolate with or without their own mug with proceeds contributing to the Canley Cup.
“My favourite part of the BYOM event is seeing Hamber get into the holiday spirit while sharing cups of hot cocoa... it warms my heart,” said VDSC representative Chloe Young (11). StuCo’s BWOM event raised a total of $81.
The second event, Holiday Grams, was planned in partnership with Diversity Club. From Dec. 4 to Dec. 7 at lunch, students could buy grams between $1 to $5 at the kiosk. Options for grams included a candy cane, message, chocolate, or song, which were later delivered to recipients during class on Friday, Dec. 8. This event raised $677.
“Witnessing students running up to the Kiosk with a smile on their face made my day,” said StuCo vice-president Arabella Mew (11).
“My favourite songs were “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and a Lana Del Ray song. It was funny: it was the only non-holiday song, but it had meaning,” said grade 12 representative Shaan Sandhu (12), who was responsible for delivering grams. He sung the song grams in hopes of inspiring younger generations in StuCo, who were less confident about performing in front of classes.
“It was $5 to buy a song, but sometimes we would go in classes and they had no song, so we felt bad,” said Sandhu. “We had the time, so we did it for free for the holiday spirit.”
He added that he went down to the LALS class and sang to them as well, as they hadn’t received grams and he thought they might not have even known it was happening. “I just wanted to create more spirit for everybody.”
The Holiday Marketplace was held on Dec. 13 at lunch. Clubs were welcome to sell their own items, with 40 per cent of all profits going towards CANley Cup. “Having different booths by different clubs is a really great way to see the elements that Hamber brings to the table,” said StuCo co-president Shahreen Chowdhury (12). Her favourite CANley Cup event was the Holiday Marketplace, which raised just over $386.
“It’s always really funny seeing a member of StuCo dressed up as Santa,” said Chowdhury. A special addition to the Marketplace was the StuCo photobooth with Santa, with all profits going towards the CANley Cup. Students could select props and take festive polaroids.
This year, Hamber raised a total of $2000.30 for the CANley cup.