|
|
|
| Confederation Secondary School Students
Help Fill The Shelves Of Local Food Banks |
|
 |
| Anne Unwin, 2nd from the left, Director of the Good
Neighbours Food Bank in Hanmer, and Charlie Larmondin, of the Capreol
Lions, gratefully accept cheques from Stephanie Moyle, left, and Laura
Cirelli, far right. The 16-year old Grade 11 students from Confederation
Secondary School were presenting each of the two organizations with
cheques amounting to $320. The $640 was donated from the staff of the
school. This was on top of the 1257 food items that were already picked up
from the school following a two-hour canvassing blitz in the communities
of Valley East and Capreol on December 7.
Stephanie and Laura are both Ministers of Public Affairs with the
Student Parliament. They along with fellow Grade 11 classmate, Amanda
Alcock, 2nd from the right in the photo below, spearheaded the food drive,
which has been done annually for the past 24 years at the school.
Ms Tiffany Roberts, who teaches Grade 10 and 12 English, was the
Co-Chair of the initiative along with Ms. Pat Miller, a Special Education
Teacher at the school. |
|
|
| In recognition of the volunteer work, the three girls were
also awarded with special Certificates of Volunteerism from Ray Bonin, MP
for Nickel Belt.
According to Larmondin, "When we lost our high school in 1996, it
left a big hole in our Christmas food drive campaign. However,
Confederation Secondary School immediately took up the slack and ever
since then has included us in their annual drive."
Some students canvassed for food in Capreol during the blitz, thanks in
large part to the free bus transportation that was provided by Northway
Bus Lines for the event. The Capreol Lions will deliver 74 Christmas
hampers to needy Capreol families.
Other companies that deserve special thanks for their contributions on
"blitz day" include:
 | Valley Growers who donated one hundred 10 pound bags of potatoes;
|
| Tim Hortons (both Val Caron and Hanmer Valley Shopping Centre
locations) for providing timbits, hot chocolate and cookies to the
canvassers;
|
| Canun International for providing the boxes in which to pack the
food:
|
| Northway Bus Lines for providing free bus transportation for the
canvassers. |
Amand Alcock commented, "It is sad to see that this is needed, but
it is nice to see that people in the community were so generous."
According to Laura Cirelli, "I was surprised at how much time was
involved in organizing this food drive, but it was worth it because we
were so successful."
For Stephanie, it was a very rewarding experience. "Everyone
worked hard and it all came together. It was very satisfying to see the
results."
Ms Roberts and Ms. Miller were very proud of the students for their
efforts to make Christmas a little bit better for so many people. However,
everyone involved agreed that more must be done by the community to
address the underlying problem of poverty that inflicts so many people in
our society today. Canada is a land of abundance, so it is not acceptable
that so many people have come to depend on food banks for
sustenance.
Once again, however, the students of Confederation Secondary School
have come forward when needed and it was much appreciated by Ann Unwin and
Charlie Larmondin as well as the people they represent.
|
|
|
|
