THUNDER BAY - During lent, many Christians choose to give up certain luxuries, but students at a local Catholic school decided to use this spiritual time to give back.
On Tuesday, students at Holy Cross School presented a cheque to the Dew Drop Inn worth $3,500, money raised entirely by student-run initiatives and activities.
“When we were in our class getting ready to prepare for our lent and promises, we found out that a lot of teachers and students already volunteer at the Dew Drop Inn, so we decided we should host these fundraisers to help out and raise this money,” said Grade 4 student, Brooklyn Fontaine.
“We had a bake sale and all the Grade 4s made treats with their parents and we sold them,” added classmate, Olivia Poling. “And we had a movie and popcorn day and a hotdog day.”
The Dew Drop Inn is open daily and serves meals from 2 to 3:30 p.m. to roughly 200 people a day. Kathie Terhljan, executive director of the Dew Drop Inn, said learning of the money was a pleasant surprise and will go a long way toward helping the charitable organization.
“When we got the call, we were in the process of doing work on the roof and I thought: This couldn’t have come at a better time,” she said. “The roof job is about $31,000. They just completed the roof last week and we are in the process of raising the funds for the roofing.”
But what makes this donation even more special is where it came from and the young minds and hearts behind such a kind act of generosity.
“I think it’s absolutely amazing,” Terhljan said. “Watching the presentation was very touching, to think that we have children in our community who are so caring and loving and compassionate of people, especially those that we serve at the Dew Drop Inn.”
And it was an honour for the students behind the fundraising as well, knowing that they are giving back to those less fortunate in the community.
“It felt really good because I know all that money is going to help all those people who don’t have what we have today,” Brooklyn said.
