Students at Summerland Secondary showed their big hearts again at a pre-Christmas fundraiser.
During the week of Dec. 8 to 12 Dave Stathers’ class of 21 students hosted both a bake sale and a Refit Dance.
Refit is a company brand which focuses on creating and changing the fitness experience.
Summerland Baptist Church has a group that runs these classes, and Bree Young, the mother of one of the students, donated her time to teach others.
Though it is often a senior class to take on a large project like this, the Grade 10s stepped up to take on the challenge of raising money for a valuable cause.
They have chosen to donate the funds to the non-government organization Food for the Hungry. This type of income will create business opportunities and food resources to families in Africa.
“The students picked ideas that would give African families long-term solutions to their many problems,” Stathers said. This will give items such as sewing materials, seeding supplies and bee hives to assist struggling families.
“It was a great way to help out others and have fun at the same time,” Jayden Thurlin said.
She was one of many students to help organize and participate in the events.
One student even donated his own birthday money to the cause, such an occurrence can often be rare to see from people. Austin Cote gave $20 to the cause.
“It wasn’t a lot of money, but I think it was worth it,” he said.
Cote wasn’t the only student to personally support the cause. Many students gave their own money to contribute to the project, along with a donation from the Civics 11 class.
In many campaign fundraisers it is difficult to find people willing to give something out of their own pocket, whether it be teens or adults. The school found it incredible to have the amount of support the class got in running these events.
In total, they were able to raise $525.