Staff
Students with the Northwest Catholic District School Board worked together to raise more than $2,700 to help out earthquake-ravaged Haiti as part of their Lenten project.
Students at St. Francis School here raised a total of $ $1,090.45.
Those at St. Patrick’s (Atikokan) raised $152, with St. Joseph’s students (Dryden) raising $300.
The total raised by students at Sacred Heart School (Sioux Lookout) was $1,217.
“All of our money that we’re raising is going to the ‘Free the Children’ Haiti relief,” noted St. Francis student Erin Gustafson, who serves as a student spirit leader.
“They divide their projects up into emergency relief, education projects, and medical supplies,” she explained.
Working together, students at St. Francis raised the money through various projects over Lent, including a Shrove Tuesday pancake breakfast that raised $389.44.
Gustafson and her fellow student spirit leaders came in at 6:30 a.m. that day to get ready to serve all the students.
Funds also were raised at the participating schools through the “Hearts and Hands for Haiti” project.
For every 50 cents brought in, a student would get a small heart with their name on it to go with other hearts on a bigger “heart” poster.
Fundraising at St. Francis also expanded to include the various “green projects” its student council had underway.
“Every class in the school received a little mini greenhouse, where they planted vegetables like lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes and things that will go in a salad,” said St. Francis student Angela Cole, who is both on student council and a student spirit leader.
“By the end of Lent, everyone donated between 25 and 50 cents for every centimetre their plant grew.
“We’re continuing to grow the plants so that towards the end of the year, we’ll have a big salad and the school and everyone can share it,” Cole added.
She noted this also ties into the various “green” projects the student council has been working on, including a presentation on Earth Day and giving each student reusable water bottles.
Donations for Haiti also were collected at the school’s Valentine’s dance from people entering a limbo contest.
Another way students raised money was through making “10 by 10 commitment posters,” noted Gustafson, in which each student made 10 commitments to make the world a better place that can be done every day.
By registering online with these ideas, Aviva Insurance Company donated $10 each to the “Free the Children” organization.
The decision to direct their energies towards helping Haiti came after the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean nation back in January, said Gustafson, noting that in the past, students also have helped out to support local causes such as the food bank.
“[But] Haiti really seemed to touch us because we know they’ve been needing help for sometime, but it was so sudden that they had their earthquake.”
The school’s student leadership wants to “empower students” and make sure their voices are heard, added Gustafson.
Projects like these also tie into the Catholic values being promoted at the schools, she noted.
“We definitely promote social justice so that we don’t just talk about it at school,” stressed Gustafson.
She said they hope the students will continue working on social justice projects like these once they go on to high school and out into the real world.
