The pandemic isn’t stopping local students from helping their younger peers. If anything, it has motivated them further.
Members of Orillia Secondary School’s Students for Change club (formerly Me to We) are making sure their efforts, including a program that sees them pack lunches to be delivered to elementary schools in the area to help students in need, continue throughout the year.
“We’ve had to figure out a way to deliver food safely to the elementary schools,” said club co-president Chloe Bard.
It’s been a community effort. The lunch program is funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Orillia and Area. The students are working with Zehrs to package the food. The Orillia store has agreed to cover costs when the grant money runs out.
“We thought it was really important, as a group, to provide healthy snacks to kids who might not have that access at home,” Bard said. “Everyone’s struggling with the pandemic.”
The club has been engaging the entire school by holding weekly competitions among classrooms to bring in donations. They held a food drive in November to help The Sharing Place Food Centre. That campaign brought in more than 1,000 pounds of food.
“A lot of places do food drives around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it’s important that people have food all the time,” said club co-president Sophia Armstrong.
She and Bard have also started a toy drive for the young patients in Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital’s pediatric unit.
It’s a cause close to Armstrong’s heart. She spent time in the hospital as a kid suffering from asthma.
“It’s hard for them to be isolated at this time of the year,” she said.
Bard hopes the club’s efforts motivate others to help those in need.
“Hopefully, there will be a lot more change makers taking it on and we continue inspiring other students to make a positive change in their community,” she said.
