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Royal Bay grads game of tag ends with food, care for the community

Students split $1,115 donation between Goldstream Food Bank, mental health program
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Royal Bay student Brynne Smith gave a donation of $558 to the Goldstream Food Bank on behalf of the 2020 grad class. (Courtesy of Maddy Morrison)

A game of tag between dozens of Royal Bay 2020 grads resulted in a generous donation to the Goldstream Food Bank and a Victoria-based mental health initiative.

Every year, Royal Bay students play “Gotcha” where participants have a designated person to tag. Those tagged lose the game and pass on their person to tag to the person who tagged them. With more than 70 students taking part and a charge of $15 to play, the final person standing was set to win $1,115.

But two weeks into March, the game was frozen due to the pandemic. The game remained at a standstill until the class decided to call it off completely as spring break neared its end.

“We were faced with so many difficulties to finish our senior year and we wanted more than anything to put it towards a good cause to reflect what affected us,” said student player Brynne Smith. “We’re so glad that it’s not being wasted.”

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She said a fellow classmate passed away near the beginning of the school year and they wanted to remember him. They donated half of the tag prize money towards NEED2, a youth suicide prevention, education and support program.

On July 18, they dropped by the Goldstream Food Bank to donate the other $558. Smith said the decision to give the funds towards the food bank was an easy decision because of their ties with the organization. Each year, the school participates in 10,000 Tonight, the annual food drive held in December to help tide the stock through the winter.

“They were planning to donate bleachers, but this is something just as good, if not better,” said 2019 grad Maddy Morrison, who helped organize the game and donation. In her year, their class funded a piece of Indigenous art for the school as their gift.

ALSO READ: Royal Bay students hope to break records for West Shore’s largest food drive


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