Over a hundred Sturgeon County students gave back to their community last week as a local school celebrated International Volunteer Day.
All 130 junior high school students at Camilla School in Riviere Qui Barre fanned out across the greater Edmonton region last Thursday to help others as part of International Volunteer Day.
While the school’s Junior Leadership team has previously done volunteer work, principal Neil O’Shea said this was the first time that all the school’s junior high students had taken a full day off to volunteer.
“Our school has a focus on global citizenship,” he said, and staffers felt this was a good way for the kids to learn about giving back to their community. The fact that it happened on International Volunteer Day was a happy coincidence.
Students dispersed to seven locations, O’Shea said, each of which exposed them to people they wouldn’t ordinarily encounter in rural Sturgeon County. “Part of developing a social conscience with kids is taking them out of their comfort zone.”
That meant baking treats and playing games with seniors at West Country Hearth, practicing English with new immigrants at Edmonton’s Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, and helping kids read at Norwood School (an inner-city school in Edmonton). They also made pet toys for the Edmonton Humane Society, worked with Boyle Street Community Services, and helped out at the Shepherd’s Care Foundation’s Kensington campus.
About 15 Camilla School students spent the day the Edmonton Chrysalis Society – a non-profit group backed by the province that helps developmentally challenged adults find jobs and volunteer opportunities. They also brought with them a bunch of hats and mitts to donate.
Students Julie Hoetmer and Jake Szatmary were helping Chrysalis volunteer Shelly Sinner stuff envelopes – an example of contract work available to clients with the society.
“I’m learning it’s neat to be with other people and help them out,” said Hoetmer, who has previously volunteered at a Share and Wear event in St. Albert. “I like helping people.”
It might seem like dull work, Szatmary said, but knowing that you’re helping others makes it fun. “It makes me feel good inside to know I’m helping someone else.”
Many of these students will have never encountered a person with disabilities before, said Chrysalis spokesperson Katie Nixon, and this gives them a chance to work with them first-hand.
Centres like Chrysalis always need volunteers, Nixon said, many of who form lifelong friendships with their clients. She hoped this experience would light a passion for volunteerism in the students.
“It’s important for everyone to give back to his or her community,” she said. “Hopefully, it gives them a sense of fulfilment.”
The school hopes to make this an annual event, O’Shea said.
