Grade 12 social justice students at Assumption College School want to make a difference as their high school experience winds down.
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The class has taken on a project to fill a shipping container with much needed items that will be sent to Haiti.
“This Grade 12 class are the last group of kids affected by COVID,” said Ella Torto, teacher and SHSM lead: social justice and equity. “Their high school career has been a little limited and they wanted to do something big. I don’t think you can get much bigger.”
Torto said she invited the school’s chaplain, Debra Sheldrake to speak to students about her mission work, and Haiti was the topic.
“This semester, this class seemed to be really moved by what she said, and they wondered what we could do to help,” Torto said.
Chaplain Sheldrake explained that the Sisters of Holy Cross have half a dozen schools, a teacher’s college, hospital, orphanage and clinic in northern Haiti.
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“This is a rare opportunity to get things they need,” Sheldrake noted. “Sending money is always helpful but they can’t buy the things they need in Haiti.”
Among items that will be sent are hospital beds, computers, French language school supplies, library books, sewing machines, pots and pans, and chairs for their schools and chapel.
Torto said the cost of the project – including shipping and the purchase of the container – is about $20,000.
After seeing the chaplain’s presentation on Haiti three times, Grade 12 student Blossom Dhillon said “the passion and energy was brewing up to make a big difference, not only in our community but within one a thousand miles away.
“The list they sent us was 14 pages long, and it was inspiring to see that they need all the stuff that we can provide for them,” Dhillon observed. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really make a difference in the world. As Grade 12’s, this is our last hurrah before leaving.”
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Social justice SHSM student Avery Lerner said she loves the planning that goes into an endeavour like this.
“I like to be able to see a project from start to finish and know that all our efforts as a class are going somewhere,” she said. “Doing something like this is a really big way we can contribute to the school and leave our mark.”
Torto acknowledged it’s a costly project, adding that dress-down days and other school activities have helped to raise some of the funds needed to purchase supplies that the Sisters of Holy Cross have asked for.
A shipping company that does humanitarian aid has been secured to deliver the container to a port in northern Haiti, away from the unrest and violence in Port-Au-Prince.
To reach their fundraising goal an open house at Assumption will be held on Wednesday, June 5 from 4:30 to 8 pm featuring a bouncy castle, silent auction, ice cream, and a photo booth.
“It will be a great thing to say I did in high school,” said student Lily Ideias. “I’ve always dreamed of doing mission trips, and if I could go to Haiti and see the impact we’ve made even ten years later, seeing them using the same things we gave them, I think it would just completely fulfill a human being to see that (we) made a difference.”
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