Students Add Extra Warmth and Kindness for Homeless People on the Coldest Night of the Year
Students in Megan Baker's Grade 4 class and Angie Shura's Grade 6 class teamed up to start a school-wide drive to collect warm mitts, hats and gloves for Kenora's homeless people. It was all part of the community's Coldest Night of the Year Initiative on February 24th. The entire school was involved and collected over a 150 warm items leading up to the event. A few parents even hand-knitted items just for the drive.
"Cole, a Grade 4 student, talks about the initiative. "Our class and the class next door started thinking about all the people who aren't warm or can't get into the homeless shelters because it's too crowded. The nights are very cold outside, so we started a drive to collect warm hats and scarves and mitts."
The students went to work creating posters in Google slides to get the school involved. They also made hand-written notes to pin to each item so people would know that they could take them if they needed them.
Under cover of night, Mrs. Baker and Ms. Shura visited the downtown core and spread the items around the community, attaching them to lampposts, stop sign posts and fences. The next morning Megan Baker was surprised that most of the items were gone. "I took my sons for a ride down town to see the items and most of them were gone. It warmed my students' hearts to know the items were gone, and they had helped someone stay a little warmer on a cold night."
The Coldest Night of the Year is Canada's National Walk for Homelessness. It's a family-friendly fundraiser that raises money and awareness for local charities serving hungry, homeless and hurting families and youth in 120 communities across Canada. The Kenora Fellowship Center and Jubilee Church hosted Kenora's events on February 24, 2018. Learn more here.
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