ST. PAUL – Down a hallway at Racette Jr. High School, a classroom was filled with 50 bags and backpacks, stuffed with toiletries and other necessities. The backpacks were put together help those in need.
A group of Grade 9 students involved in the project are part of Racette Jr. High School’s first ever ‘Leadership’ class. They call the bags ‘dignity bags.’
Sharon Dunne Kotowich, the Leadership teacher, said the project was done to bring awareness to poverty, and to show students they can take action to help address poverty in the community.
The class first called the Mannawanis Native Friend Centre, asking where the greatest need was, and how they could help.
MNFC informed students that the centre provides shower facilities for those in need and told the class “That they were really in need of shampoo, soap, and basically toiletry items,” explained Dunne Kotowich. So, the students decided to take action.
Lily Belland, program manager for the Mental Health Capacity Building (MHCB) in Schools Initiative, helped organize the project, and coordinated the logistics and the budget. MHCB is an Alberta Health Services (AHS) initiative that is run in partnership with St. Paul Education.
Belland explained the student-driven project began in October. It took a while to plan things out, but students recently completed the project.
“We’re so excited that we get to hand [the bags] off to the [MNFC] because we know that they’re connected into the community and can make sure they go where they need to go,” said Belland.
Lakeland This Week spoke to some students on Friday, when they went to the Centre to drop off the bags. When asked why they became involved in the project, students said they wanted to bring attention to the issue of poverty in the community.
Some students acknowledged that they did not really think a lot about poverty before starting the project. They also hope that offering people in need ‘dignity bags’ can give people increased self-confidence.
On Friday afternoon, students walked from Racette to the MNFC, carrying the bags.
They were welcomed by the centre’s staff and taken for a tour, while also learning about what MNFC does to help the community. The centre offers people a warm place to be if they do not have somewhere to go, as well as coordinating initiatives around important topics such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).
Students received MMIWG t-shirts as well as a pizza gift card for the class, as a thank-you. MNFC staff then chatted with the students in an open setting.
When the students left, Hinano Rosa, executive director at the MNFC, told Lakeland This Week that the students’ visit and efforts “make me feel so good inside... my heart is full.”
Rosa added, the visit “builds more of my faith in humanity.”
Gratitude
Belland and Kotowich thanked all those that were involved. They also specifically thanked Dollar Tree, where they shopped. When the group went shopping with 20 students, the store even had extra staff on hand to help out.
The program was also made possible thanks to United Way’s Make Your Mark program.
Make Your Mark is a community-based leadership development initiative that teaches K-12 students about empathy, social issues, the role of non-profits, and educates students about how to become leaders and make a difference in their communities.
United Way provided the class with a $1,000 grant for the project. Students used the full amount to buy the items needed.
“I think the kids have learned a lot of empathy [from the project,] like putting themselves in the position of ‘What would I need if I was homeless?’ And going back to those basic needs often taken for granted,” said Belland.
Kotowich agreed, saying, “Hopefully they will grow on the skills they’ve learned [during their Leadership class] and they will use this in their lives going forward... to bring more good into our community.”
