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Students hope to bring Christmas cheer to homeless

Changing the circumstances of Sudbury's homeless population may be beyond 10-year-old Adora Boivin, but she still wants to bring them Christmas cheer.
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Grade 6 Sudbury Christian Academy student Oliver Robertson shows off a card he made for a homeless person. The school is handing out care packages for the homeless next month. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.
Changing the circumstances of Sudbury's homeless population may be beyond 10-year-old Adora Boivin, but she still wants to bring them Christmas cheer.

Along with the rest of her class, the Grade 5 Sudbury Christian Academy student recently assembled care packages for homeless people filled with toiletries, socks and gloves, food items and even cards hand-made by the students.

They'll be taking a city bus downtown Dec. 16 along with their teacher, Fay Best, to distribute the packages. Best said many of her students have never taken the city bus or experienced that part of the city.

“They probably had a very bad time, living on the streets,” Adora said. “Not so many people stop and care for them. They just walk by. I think it's a really nice thing for people to do this.”

She said she plans to talk to the needy, in the hopes that she's able to make them “happy and joyful,” if just for a minute.

The care packages are just one of several projects being undertaken this year by Sudbury Christian Academy, a private elementary school based out of Glad Tidings church. The school has a focus on serving others this year.

Best's Grade 5/6 class has also filled shoe boxes for Samaritan's Purse, which will be distributed to needy children overseas, and they collected items to be given to a local needy family on Christmas.

Older students, alumni and staff members will also take part in a service trip to Haiti on March Break, where they'll help build a classroom at a school. Best said she hopes these projects encourage lifelong volunteerism.

“I think that as a teacher, whether I'm teaching in public school or in Christian school, we have the responsibility to train our children to stretch themselves,” said Best.

“They need to have an awareness of not only themselves, and their own skills and abilities, but to try to help other people.”

Sudbury Christian Academy hopes to raise $6,000 to build the classroom in Haiti. A spaghetti supper to raise funds for the project is being held in Glad Tidings' gym Dec. 2 from 4-7 p.m.

Best also encourages anyone who wishes to donate to the project to email her at [email protected] or phone the school at 705-522-1649.

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Heidi Ulrichsen

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