École Willows has stepped up to give back in a big way this holiday season.
Emmanuelle Henry, a Grade 4 French immersion teacher at the school, saw a Facebook post about the New Souls Campaign calling on Victoria residents to donate shoes to those in need.
Henry brought the idea forward to her class who enthusiastically ran with the project.
“We are always trying to do things for the community. When we saw this intiative, we decided we wanted to try to crush the initial goal (of 200 pairs),” said Henry.
The students made posters and went around to other classrooms to promote the campaign. They put bins in the front hallway where students could put shoes, and submitted ads to the school newsletter to get the message home to parents.
“It was great for them because they had to plan, organize and speak in front of other students,” said Henry.
All their hard work paid off.
“Their huge effort ended up collecting 402 pairs of shoes, and I only had a goal of 200,” said New Souls organizer Jamie Stange, who was thrilled with the students’ initiative. “This effort is going to put a huge smile on many boys and girls and women and men this Christmas. Thanks to them we ended up with 998 pairs of shoes to give back to our community.”
The shoes are going to be donated to Mustard Seed, Our Place, Cridge Center, and Victoria Cool Aid Society.
keri.coles@oakbaynews.com
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keri.coles@oakbaynews.com