THUNDER BAY – Students at Sir Winston Churchill and Vocational Institute offered up one last good deed on the final day of classes in the school’s 51-year-old history.
On Thursday, graduating students turned over a cheque worth $15,600 to the Canadian Cancer Society, the proceed from this year’s Relay for Life event, which the school took over a year ago when the organization decided their own long-time event was no longer feasible.
Seventeen-year-old Cody Lane said it was an easy cause to get behind.
“Here at our school, cancer is a very deeply rooted issue. We have many who are affected by it – friends, family, teachers – and we wanted to sort of give back to them and let them know we’re here for them,” Lane said.
School-mate Laila Ikki, also 17, said the cause hits close to home.
“I have had a few teachers who have been affected by cancer personally and it’s had a tremendous toll on me as well as my other peers. I feel like it’s important to support those who we find immediately close to ourselves.”
Ikki said she was shocked when she learned on Thursday just how well the students had done fundraising for the event.
“It was absolutely incredible. I was astonished. Last year we raised $14,791 and this year we raised $15,600. That was a big, immense achievement for us, especially since our school is closing and this is the perfect way for us to end our careers here at Churchill.”
School vice-principal Ryan McDonnell said they held activities for the kids during the relay and raised money throughout the school year.
“But the nice thing is we actually had some community teams participate as well,” McDonnell said. “We had students from Confederation College and family participate and that sort of thing. The planning has been for a long time, so it was nice to pull it together for the event and raise some money,”
