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Parking meters help feed children in Powell River

Proceeds from grocery store collections go directly to food and clothes
Sara Donnelly
Powell River resident Frank Clayton [left]
COIN COLLECTORS: Powell River resident Frank Clayton [left], who initiated a fundraising effort involving old parking meters in three local grocery stores, and Safeway manager Steve Wadsworth show off one of the three restored units that are collecting donations for Friends of Powell River. Meters are also located in Save-On-Foods and Quality Foods. Contributed photo

Although parking meters have thankfully not appeared on Powell River’s streets, fundraising meters can now be found in three local grocery stores.

The metre initiative is raising funds for Friends of Powell River, an organization that works to provide food, clothing and other necessities to children and youth throughout the community. The concept of fundraising with meters was brought to town by Frank Clayton, who was inspired when he saw a similar project in the BC interior.

“I saw it at a grocery store in the Okanagan and thought that would be a great way to feed the hungry kids here,” he said. Clayton searched and found some old parking meters in a scrap yard in Saskatchewan; he then paid to have them shipped to Vancouver. From there, City Transfer brought them to Powell River and other community volunteers pitched in to help. Welding students and their teacher at Brooks Secondary School built bases for the meters, Pinetree Autobody painted them and Lisanne English at Impact Signs provided the signage.

Clayton then talked to local grocery chains Safeway, Save-On-Foods and Quality Foods; each business agreed to display the meters in their stores.

“That is no small amount of effort and getting people to just go along with this,” said Friends of Powell River lead volunteer Melanie Jordan. “It's a huge gift to have Frank just push and push to make this happen.”

Clayton, who is sensei at Canadian Martial Arts Academy, said another aim of the project is to show his young students how their actions can make a positive impact.

“In our school we teach respect, compassion and gratitude,” he said. “If we start them early then hopefully it carries on and they feel like random acts of kindness are important.”

The fundraising goal for the meters this year is $20,000, said Jordan, who started Friends of Powell River with her sister more than a decade ago.

“I’m excited to see what they’ll do; all the money goes right to the kids,” said Jordan. “There are no expenses in this thing.” Making sure all children and youth have adequate nutrition is a major priority of the group, she added, and the cost of achieving this can increase with age.

“We do a lot of work with teens; they eat a lot.” she said. “I just encourage people to remember if they’ve fed a teenage boy, you can imagine what it’s like to feed them on a low income.”