In spirit of the holidays, the feeling of giving is in the air, and multiple Burnaby schools are making a difference in the lives of many this Christmas. Through school-wide activities and fundraisers, the schools aim to do as much as possible for the underprivileged in our community and around the world.
Take Burnaby South Secondary for example; they have a lot of ideas lined up for the holidays. The school's Interact club is organizing Operation Christmas Child, where the students get shoeboxes from Willingdon Church and fill the boxes with necessities and other small Christmas gifts. The students get to choose whether they want to send the boxes to a boy or a girl of any age they wish, and they customize their boxes however they like. After the boxes are filled, each student puts in a $7-donation, and the boxes are shipped to different parts of the world such as Asia, Africa and South America. Although this may be a new concept for some, Burnaby South has been doing this for years.
Across town, Burnaby North Secondary isn't holding anything back either. Each year the school as a whole sets a target amount of money to fundraise and this year the target is $10,000. The school-wide activities are called Christmas Cheer, and all the funds go to the Burnaby Children's Fund, a charity that helps children in poverty. Raising money through Christmas Cheer involves selling Christmas cards and cookie dough. Small things like this make a difference when the whole school is involved, and the students have managed to surpass their target in previous years.
Smaller schools like École Alpha and École Cariboo Hill are doing many things for their community. Alpha's teachers have donated money towards grocery store gift cards for the families of students at their school. The students in the ACE-IT hairdressing program are giving haircuts and styles for free to those who donate five or more cans to the Vancouver Food Bank - quite the original idea. Cariboo Hill has been doing their share as well, donating to the Vancouver Food Bank as well as selling bracelets to raise money for the popular Me to We Foundation. They are also teaming up with local elementary schools to provide Christmas hampers filled with food and clothes, basic essential for families in the community: it's a way of giving that seems to be very common this season. Byrne Creek is another school that creates hampers with their annual Holiday Hamper Drive, and it's proven to be quite successful. This year they're creating more than 65 hampers for the families of their students in need.
Being students ourselves, we know that when the holidays roll around, the school becomes busy. Students are going around asking for donations, it seems there's a different bake sale every week held by student government, and teachers are in heated competitions over whose class can raise more money or collect more non-perishable food. Sometimes it gets hard and participation becomes weak. We forget to give but then the realization hits, and we think, "Why not?" Why not bring in a couple of cans, or a few bucks? The school is making it easy for us - effortless really. All we have to do is participate and bring in what we have to offer. We forget just how big of an impact all the schools have and all the revenue we bring in for many foundations and charities. It just goes to show how every single student and teacher can make a big difference just by participating.
Jane Leung and Kendra Ho are Grade 11 students at Cariboo Hill Secondary. They spent a week at the Burnaby NOW, learning to be reporters as part of a work experience program for high school.
