The Grade 5 students at Pleasantdale School are learning how little things can make a big difference.
The class motto all year long has been World Changers, whereby the class organizes fundraisers within the school that donate to many causes, from raising money in the school to supporting local charities and the Relay for Life.
Now they're raising money for the people of Slave Lake, Alberta who recently lost most of their town to fires.
Angela Smeltzer, the Grade 5 teacher, said the start of the project began with the class deciding who they were as a group, and world changers was what they decided on.
"It's about giving them a chance to organize," she said, adding, "and guiding them because they need the guidance. You have to train a child to help them go. If you do this with them, they will do these things when they're adults. They will be the ones volunteering to coach and doing Relay for Life."
This past week they held their final fundraising blitz of the year. Fundraisers this week support Slave Lake, through the Red Cross, the Estevan Humane Society and getting new jerseys for the Grade 7 and 8 teams.
"We brainstormed a pile of things at the beginning of the year," said Smeltzer.
The class organized the school's Jump Rope for Heart campaign, and when they were deciding on the final fundraisers to do, some of the students wanted to do something for animals, so the Humane Society was the obvious local organization to help.
Students had been hearing the news and were very aware of the disaster in Slave Lake, so she said one boy proposed raising some relief money for those who had lost homes and possessions.
The 27 students in the class plan the fundraisers, do all the advertising and petitioned the principal for their campaigns.
The class organized fundraisers each day this week on their campaign they call Wacky World Changers. The activities included a wacky hair day, an iPod day, a face painting day for the kindergarten to Grade 3 students, a hat and shutter glasses day, and a bake sale and freezies, selling for 50 cents today. The class raised $115.75 on Monday and Tuesday for the fundraisers that supported Slave Lake residents.
