Teen Spirit

- Vanessa Hrvatin

ON DECEMBER 24, 2014, 12-year-old Andrew Teel made his way toward a park in Vancouver’s troubled Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. There, he joined a group of volunteers and headed out to deliver red-and-white stockings stuffed with personal care items— gloves, toothbrushes, water—to homeless people in the area.

Andrew’s mother, Sandy, had encouraged her son to pick a fun family activity to do before Christmas rolled around, and this was Andrew’s. Having been in the foster care system until the age of six, Andrew knew what it was like to dread the holiday season—and to feel forgotten.

The following year he fund-raised enough money to fill 30 stockings,but the organization that had led the initiative no longer existed. After a series of phone calls, Sandy finally found a place that would accept her son’s donation: Covenant House Vancouver, which helps street youth.