Student members of the Sundre High Leo Club came up last week with a plan to help raise additional funds for victims of the Fort McMurray wildfires.
“We decided we're going to do a joint project with River Valley School,” said Ryan Beck, a teacher as well as the club's advisor.
The club met Tuesday, May 17 with representatives from the elementary school, and the group collectively agreed to make arrangements for a loose change or coin drive. The plan was to start the collection within the schools this week, followed by a community drive on Saturday, May 28, he said.
“A lot of businesses are already doing their own collections, and we didn't want to interfere with them. So we decided to go door to door instead.”
The students will welcome any kind of coins, including pennies. Once they've collected all the change they can, the young volunteers will spend some time counting and rolling up all the donated coins, he said.
“It's really just an honour and a privilege to work with such fantastic human beings,” he told the Round Up last week when asked his thoughts on the students taking the initiative.
Seeing the response from the rest of the country has also been inspiring. From Sikhs in B.C. and Syrian refugees — who have little to nothing but nevertheless want only to show their appreciation by paying it forward — to everyday Canadians from coast to coast, the outpouring of support has been touching to see, he said.
“It's amazing to see the response from every community in the country.”
The funds raised by the students' coin drive will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, which both federal and provincial governments have pledged to match.
