- Ali’s class supported Halton’s Women’s Place (collecting and donating toiletries)
- They were able to reach out and help the local community and our global community
- Outreach projects included one student returning his Christmas present and donating the cash
Students in two primary grade classes at Pilgrim Wood Public School went out into their communities to make sure a nobody had the opportunity to be a somebody.
Lisa Minnie’s Grade 2 class and Nadia Ali’s Grade 2/3 class participated in the Who Is NOBODY? character education project.
Each classroom received a kit that included NOBODY, a plain, denim doll.
The students were tasked with going into the community to do outreach projects, whereby they exercised character attributes such as respect, perseverance, optimism, courage, empathy, honesty and responsibility.
After they completed their tasks, the students got to attach 3D objects representing their unique character-building project onto NOBODY, who then becomes SOMEBODY.
At Pilgrim Wood, at the end of the school year, both classrooms had well-decorated dolls and scrapbooks exhibiting their achievements.
Both classes were also featured at www.whoisnobody.com for being the Amazing Class of the Week.
“I was impressed with what they were able to do,” said Minnie, whose students raised $1,700 and awareness for numerous charities, along with community work like neighbourhood clean-ups.
“They just did a great job thinking about other people and going above and beyond helping others.”
The students did individual projects, including supporting such causes as Free the Children’s We Create Change penny drive, the Oakville & Milton Humane Society, Hands4Hope, Kerr Street Ministries, Painted Rock Animal Farm & Sanctuary, the World Food Programme, Terracycle, Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope, World Wildlife Fund, Malala’s Girls’ Education Fund, and the Mikey Network’s Mikey Defibrillators.
One student returned his Christmas present and donated the cash in support of the pandas at the Toronto Zoo.
Another student braved cold winter weather every day for a week and walked with a sign asking people not to litter and cleaned up garbage at the local GO station. Minnie’s student Ian Xu planted magnolia trees in his backyard with his family.
“Trees are getting chopped down constantly and if there are no trees left, we won’t be able to survive,” he said.
Student’s of Ali’s class did their own projects. They supported Halton’s Women’s Place (collecting and donating toiletries), the humane society, World Vision Canada, Goodwill, food banks and animal shelters.
“They developed a really strong sense of community through this,” Ali said.
“They were able to reach out and help not just the local community, but our global community. Students developed a deep sense of empathy towards others and they realized they had so much to give and they were able to do some things like pick up garbage in a local park, donating to a local shelter and local things such as one of my students who donated a goat to another country.”
Another of her students is growing out her hair to be able to donate it for wigs for people undergoing cancer treatments. Another student shoveled a neighbour’s driveway.
Ali’s student Jack Hillis, who picked up garbage at a local park with his dad, said he did it because there was too much trash and he wanted to impress his friends at how clean the park could be. Plus, it was easy to do.
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Every outreach project is important – no matter how big or small!
Have you done an outreach project lately?
What outreach project did you do?
This article was published in Oakville Beaver on July 10th 2013
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