by Sylene Argent
Holy Name Catholic Elementary School Principal, Brian Marenchin, has challenged the students at the local elementary school to be community-minded and support special causes through the Hawks Helping Others program.
As part of this challenge, every class is giving back to the community in some way this school year.
On Monday, Mrs. Barb Gaspard’s grade seven students got into the community service spirit by helping staff at the St. Vincent de Paul Society Shoppe to sort through Christmas items, hang and price items for sale, and clean.
“We are here to teach the kids about social justice and to help others,” Gaspard said.
The Hawks Helping Others program, Gaspard added, ties into the religion classes taught at the school. Last year, her class collected eye glasses for Haiti. She taught those students, and continues to use the collection as an example for present students, that they are lucky to have been born in Canada where they are collecting items to be used in other countries, and are not the ones in need of the donation.
Helping out at the St. Vincent de Paul Society Shoppe allowed the students to start getting into the spirit of Christmas, and with that, the spirit of giving.
A bonus of having the students help out at the Society Shoppe on Monday is that they are now trained to carry out certain tasks, which will come in handy when they are in need of earning 40 hours of community service when they move onto high school. Those skills could also possibly earn them a part time job in the future, Gaspard said.