Grazing Rites

Alvin Singh has launched his website and ramped up his campaign for School Board Trustee in Vancouver.

I’ve already donated $79.22 to his campaign. No, that’s not my last penny – it’s just the balance of my PayPal account. I challenge anyone reading this to consider donating at least $5 to his campaign. Like Barack Obama’s campaign in the United States with online contributions a huge movement can begin with a small step. It’s a chance to own a part of this campaign and in the end part of your government. And you don’t have to live in Vancouver to contribute. If you know Alvin as I do you don’t even need to do any research or go to his website to know this is a noble cause. But for those of you who don’t know Alvin personally please take a moment to check out his website:

http://alvin2008.wordpress.com

And if you want to match or exceed my contribution by all means do so – and comment below! Be proud of being a part of this campaign.

In fact I will match any $5 donation that gets commented below – just e-mail me a screenshot of the receipt, redact any personal information you don’t wish to share, and I will match any $5 contribution. Or if you wish to give more I won’t match it as I have a family to support but I will throw in another $5.

So, if you donate $5 it will instantly become $10.

If you donate $50 it will instantly become $55.

I’ll get the tax breaks for my portions and only one match per person so no double-dipping on my offer (but don’t let that stop you from making multiple donations).

To make sure this doesn’t put me in the poor house the challenge will end once we’ve had 20 people complete the challenge. I’ll then take a deep breath and decide how to proceed.

Why am I doing this? Is it based solely on Alvin’s character? No, that’s not all. It’s not just that he’s been fighting to improve our schools for over 7 years. It’s not just the student lobby group he formed in 2001 that campaigned for seismic upgrades of all at-risk schools. Those are great reasons but here are three more:

First, let Alvin speak for himself. Here’s a brief excerpt from his first blog post on his website:
“Imagine a school board where meetings are cancelled so that motions cannot be discussed and passed. A school board that doesn’t release their key reports. A school board that refuses to advocate for students, and not even explain why. You don’t have to imagine, it’s been the reality for the past three years thanks to the NPA controlled board.”

Second, Alvin has spoken before about protecting diverse course selection.

Third, as a parent I know Alvin will fight tirelessly to ensure that our school receive the seismic upgrades they need. This is a pressing concern as these upgrades have in many cases not even begun since being first recommended 13 years ago! My son is several years away from entering the public school system and I want to know that once he’s of age he’ll be safe in his school.

Alvin wants to protect the physical and mental health of our children, I for one will sleep better once he’s given the opportunity to do so as well as give a voice to concerned parents.

Seismic Upgrades. Course Diversity. Representation. Transparency.