After raising money for the Wild at Heart Refuge Centre since September, a group of students from St. Anne Catholic Elementary School recently got to visit the facility.

Cheryl MacRury's early learning class and Kathy Belanger's Grade 7 class have worked together to raise more than $200 for the centre through a penny drive.

They've also donated a newly built crate for the animals, as well as food items.

What started out at as a proposal from the two teachers, resulted in a successful grant application from the Canadian Federation of Teachers to support the students learning about and helping animals in the wild.

The students decided to call themselves the ABC’S – All Because of Caring Students, and decided that this project was about making a difference in the world.

The project involved contacting and visiting community businesses to begin a fundraiser for the animal refuge. Knowing that every cent makes a difference, they began a penny drive to help out the animals.

Throughout the year, the classes had contact with Wild at Heart Animal Refuge veterinarian Dr. Rod Jouppi and learned about what the centre does to support, protect and care for wild animals.

On June 20, the students got on a bus, and visited each of the community businesses to pick up the change collected there.

Then they travelled to the Wild at Heart Animal Refuge, where they got to see the facility and meet with Jouppi.

He thanked the students for their donations and support and encouraged them to continue in their efforts to support the care of wild animals.

“Living in northern Ontario, it is our duty to treat animals with respect and to learn to live in harmony alongside the animals as they were here first,” Jouppi said.

The veterinarian also encouraged the students to tell others about the centre as they are in constant need for volunteers, not only to support the animals, but to help with the construction of the renovations to expand the centre, as well as with fundraising and education.

MacRury said the project has had a positive effect on her students.

“Not only did our students learn about protecting our environment and all the creatures that God has given us, they have learned numeracy from counting the money, they have learned to be stewards of the Earth, they have learned communication skills, technology skills in creating multimedia projects, and they have learned empathy in being more aware of what is happening in the world around them.”

Belanger echoed MacRury’s comments, adding that having the two classes working together has been a great experience for all the students.

“Having students in different grades partner up and work together has given them both a different perspective and allowed for a really enriching mentoring opportunity,” she said.

“The younger students really look up to the older students and have been encouraged to be role models. All of our students rose to the occasion and the whole experience was outstanding. I think this project will impact them for the rest of their lives as it was more than just a fundraiser, it allowed them to have more of a global perspective as it reinforced the importance of thinking of others before themselves.”

Posted by Arron Pickard