Thousands of canned good and hygiene items were boxed and waiting at King Georve VI school in Sarnia Thursday morning for the Inn of the Good Shepherd to come and pick up for its food bank.
The 10-day school drive was the first project via the school’s new Builders Club for seventh and eighth graders.
Teaming up with the Sarnia-Lambton Seaway Kiwanis Club, about 20 youngsters have been meeting weekly at the school over their lunches, holding elections for club executive positions and coming up with community projects to make a difference, said Derek Bouma, the school’s learning commons teacher and one of two group facilitators.
“It’s been awesome for the kids,” he said.
“In just a couple of months they’re taking it and going with it.”
King George is the second school in Sarnia to start a Builders Club with the local chapter, said Joy Seibutis, a Kiwanis member.
Lansdowne is the other, and several other schools do the same with the local Golden K Kiwanis club, she said.
It’s kind of like a model Kiwanis club for youngsters, teaching leadership and encouraging giving back to the school community and others, she said.
Students in the nascent club wanted to participate in Canstruction, the annual Inn of the Good Shepherd fundraiser and canned goods drive in Lambton Mall, but the event was too soon for the club that started Feb. 3, Seibutis said.
“So they came up with this alternative, which is a great idea,” she said.
The Kiwanis club provides financial support like paying for a pizza party for the classroom that raised the most donations in the recent drive, t-shirts for club members and other items, she said, noting Dana Heno is the other Kiwanian advisor to the group.
More than 1,500 Builders Clubs exist through Kiwanis International, and the service club also offers similar Key Club and K-Kids initiatives for other age groups, according to buildersclub.org.
The King George school’s Builders Club is next planning to participate in a playground fundraiser for the school May 4, running and hosting games at an event the school is staging for the community, Bouma said.
The school hasn’t had many leadership development opportunities for students in recent years, he said.
“This is a great club to get that going,” he said, noting plans are to continue with it indefinitely at the school.
“I’ve seen a lot of positive things from it.”