BBF Celebrates 10 years of Impact

Over the past ten years, the Bright Beginnings Foundation (BBF) has been laying a pathway to many bright futures for graduating Surrey students. This small but active nonprofit society, which is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary, aims to transform the lives of Surrey secondary school graduates who are marginalized by poverty, trauma, and other significant life challenges. BBF provides selected students with full-ride bursaries for post-secondary education, enabling them to pull themselves and their families out of poverty.

Ten years ago, BBF’s founder and president, Tammy Neuman, was getting ready to retire from a 30-year teaching career with the Surrey School District. She cared dearly for all her students, did her best to help those who needed it most, and wanted nothing more than to carry her work into her retirement years. In Tammy’s own words:

“I grew up in a family where social justice issues were front and centre in our lives. And during my working career in the public school system, I worked in many schools where some of my students were living with very difficult financial challenges. I felt powerless when my students came to school hungry or dressed inappropriately for the weather. I provided many of them with lunches and winter coats, and I tried to support their families, but I wanted to do more. How could I help level the playing field so that students living with low incomes could get ahead? I realized that getting a higher education is key to breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

“As I was getting ready to retire, I realized I wasn’t ready to accept a life of leisure. Together with co-founder, Sylvia Moffatt, the Bright Beginnings Foundation was established as a way of helping marginalized Surrey students and their families. BBF was started with a grant from the Surrey Teachers Association which helped us get off the ground. Our goal was to provide the students we cared for with everything they need to succeed: full tuition, student fees, and educational materials for the postsecondary institution and program of their choice. As the work of organizing and fundraising increased, we were joined by a group of dedicated directors, and we are now a board of seven working and retired educators.”

The BBF Foundation Fund, a donor-advised fund administered by Vancity Community Foundation, is supported by fundraising activities organized by BBF’s board of directors. Various fundraisers are held throughout the year, including galas, pub nights, raffles, silent auctions, plant sales, and more. In recent years BBF has partnered with the Surrey Fire Fighters Charitable Society in their annual Christmas gift wrapping event at Guildford Mall. Initiatives and partnerships like these have allowed BBF’s directors to provide selected Surrey secondary school graduates with one full-ride bursary and a number of smaller grants every year. Because BBF is entirely volunteer-driven, 99% of all fundraising proceeds and donations go directly to help students.

One of BBF’s students describes the foundation’s impact on her life and dreams: “As a small child growing up amidst war, corruption, and conflict, I lost my childhood to circumstances far beyond any child’s control. And even after my family immigrated to Canada, I graduated from high school thinking that my educational journey was over due to financial hardships and many personal struggles. However, I was given a rare gift: a second chance. BBF gave me a renewed purpose, a pathway to pursuing my post-secondary education. BBF is the reason that now, as a young adult I, am fulfilling my dream of becoming a lawyer, fulfilling my dream to advocate for children like myself and for anyone who has been forced to surrender years of their lives to fear, injustice, and corruption. BBF has not only funded my education, but they have restored my hope and given me the opportunity to turn loss into purpose: to stand alongside those who feel they have no voice.”

Now, ten years after BBF’s founding, the dream has flourished. BBF has grown from a seed planted in Tammy’s mind to a registered non-profit society that has raised over a quarter of a million dollars and helped eleven Surrey students pursue their dreams of achieving a postsecondary education.

On September 18, 2025, BBF will celebrate its tenth anniversary and the start of another ten – or twenty, or thirty – years of supporting marginalized Surrey secondary school graduates.

For more information, please visit BBF’s website (https://brightbeginningsfoundation.ca). You may make a tax-deductible donation here (https://brightbeginningsfoundation.ca/ways-to-give/).

To contact BBF’s Board of Directors or to volunteer, please visit us at (https://brightbeginningsfoundation.ca/contact-us/).