St. Thomas helps Free the Children

What started off as one student’s personal project last fall to help the Free the Children organization has become a school-wide effort at St. Thomas High School in Pointe Claire.

Last fall, Grade 10 student Julia Greenfield decided her year-long personal project would centre around the Free the Children organization. It quickly became a school-wide imitative to raise funds, from Loonie Fridays, collecting cans, to a week-long Pancake Breakfast Fiesta held in ethics teacher Debra Barry’s class for different grades each day, with students donating food and their time to cook and serve fellow students. The pancake breakfast alone raised about $1,750 for the Free the Children's Brick-by-Brick campaign.

Greenfield, 16, said their overall goal is to raise $8,500 by the end of June in order to build a school in Kenya.

“It’s been inspiring how the school came together for what started off as a personal project,” she added. “Two Grade 8 students even shaved their heads to raise money. A lot of kids have jumped in to help. The kids here at St. Thomas have been amazing.”

During the pancake breakfast event, the students had already raised close to $6,000.

Grade 10 student Michael Rzeszutek, who volunteered for the cause and helped make pancakes, said Loonie Fridays, where students donated their loose change during their lunch break, has raised about $1,000.

As for their target of building a new school in Kenya, Rzeszutek said Free the Children also makes sure a well is built next to it so students can bring fresh water home for their families, meaning one less distraction to their education.

Free the Children, founded by Craig Kielburger when he was 12 years old in 1995, is a non-governmental organization that sets itself apart from others by having children help children. Volunteers for the program help build schools, hospitals or other kinds of infrastructure.

Chronicle, Jacques Pharand