Confederation Secondary School Holds 26th Annual “Christmas Is Giving” Food Drive

 
   Amanda Alcock, shown in the middle of the photo wearing the white sweater, presents Norm Martin, 2nd Vice President of the Capreol Lions Club, and Andrea Blais-Beaulieu of the Good Neighbours Food Bank, with much needed cash donations to go along with the 1462 non-perishable food items and one hundred 10-pound bags of potatoes that were collected as part of their 26th Annual “Christmas Is Giving” Food Drive which was held on Tuesday, December 5, 2006.
   
   The people in the photo include, from the left: Norm Martin and Linda Wotton of the Capreol Lions Club; Amanda Alcock, Minister of Public Affairs with the Confederation Secondary School Student Parliament; Phil Proulx, Andrea Blais-Beaulieu, Andre Beaulieu and Lillian Belanger, all representing the Good Neighbours Food Bank.
   
   Amanda and her Co-minister of Public Affairs, Maria Manolioudakis coordinated the food drive which involved over one hundred students in the school who volunteered to go out on the streets of Valley East and Capreol during the first two periods on December 5 to collect the food.
   
   “We all know that there are many families in our community who find it difficult around Christmas,” explained Amanda when asked why the school takes on this project. “It is a time when there are a lot of added expenses and people are under a lot of stress. We just want to do whatever we can to make it a little easier for them at this time of year.”
   
   Amanda extended heartfelt appreciation to all of the people who donated the food; to Valley Growers who donated the bags of potatoes; to the students who participated; to Ms. Patricia Miller and Ms Cynthia Farrar, two of the teachers who worked with the student parliament on the project; and to the four members of the Capreol Lions Club who helped out by driving to pick up food in that community.
   
   Amanda will be graduating in June and plans on enrolling in the Concurrent Education Program at Laurentian University en route to a career as an elementary school teacher, something she has dreamed about since Grade 2.
  
   The Capreol Lions and the Good Neighbours Food Bank both expressed their sincere gratitude for the donations.
 

Confederation Secondary School Students Canvass The Community Streets For Food

  

Six of the more than one hundred students from Confederation Secondary School who volunteered to canvas homes in Valley East were found in the Valley Acres subdivision during the morning of December 5, 2006. From the left: Jesse Eaton, Bruce Krispelote, Katelin Stamp, Alicia Violin, Alysia Manojlovic, and Miranda Bazinet. All of the students in the photo are in Grade 9.

Laura Cirelli, Prime Minister of the Confederation Secondary School Student Parliament, was busy during the morning driving around picking up food and making sure that everything was going well for the over 100 students who were on the streets for this worthy cause.
The food that was collected was placed in boxes and then divided up for distribution to the two different food banks. In the foreground you can see some of the hundred bags of potatoes that were donated by Valley Growers.
From the left: Andre Beaulieu and Andrea Blais-Beaulieu, of the Good Neighbours Food Bank, are shown with some of the members of the Confederation Secondary School Student Parliament who were involved in the organization of the Food Drive. They are: Stephanie Vitiello (Co-Minister of Ceremonies), Vivian Ip (Co-Minister of Ceremonies), Craig Moore (Co-Minister of Sports & Recreation), and Amanda Alcock, Minister of Public Affairs. On the far right in the picture is Norm Martin, 2nd Vice President of the Capreol Lions Club.
Four of the people who were the driving force behind this year's food drive are shown in the photo above. They include, from the left: Patricia Miller (staff), Amanda Alcock, Minister of Public Affairs of the Student Parliament, Cynthia Farrar (Staff), and Laura Cirelli, Prime Minister of the Student Parliament.
 
Confederation Secondary School Class Reaches Out To Beyond Their Community Boundaries To Make Christmas A Bit Better For Ten Families In Nairn Centre 
  
 
Several of the students in Ms. Tiffany Roberts' English Class at Confederation Secondary School are shown examining one of the boxes of food and other items that are being assembled for ten families that the school has "adopted" from Nairn Centre. Many people in that community have been affected by massive layoffs in recent months and are facing dire circumstances as a result. Confederation students also took part in the 26th Annual "Christmas Is Giving" Food Drive on December 5, 2006,  in support of the Good Neighbours Food Bank in Hanmer and the Capreol Lions Food Bank. As a community school, students and staff understand the importance of reaching out to others in need and when they became aware of the situation in Nairn Centre, they welcomed the opportunity to expand their boundaries for this initiative.
Ms. Tiffany Roberts, on the left, and Ms Cynthia Farrar, are the staff members who have been providing supervision and assistance in this project.

Both Tiffany and Cynthia have "connections" with Nairn Centre, and so it became obvious to the two of them that there was a tremendous need in that community. Tiffany's sister, Allison Kiviaho, sits on the Nairn Centre Food Bank Board of Directors. Cynthia is a member of the Calvin Presbyterian Women's Group and is an acquaintance of Dr. Stephanie Borsato of the Rainbow Medical Clinic who is supervising the distribution of non-perishable food items, personal hygiene products, and small gifts to the ten families most in need. 

When Tiffany and Cynthia asked the students and staff at Confederation Secondary School for help, it was a project that was taken on with pleasure. The staff has donated money to buy turkeys for the ten families so that they can have a good Christmas dinner; Valley Growers have donated potatoes; and the students are bringing in all sorts of donations that are being arranged in boxes for eventual distribution to the families.

If you wish to make a contribution to this worthy cause, please contact Ms Cynthia Farrar or Ms. Tiffany Roberts at Confederation Secondary School at (705) 897-4985. 

The students in the photos above and below belong to Ms. Tiffany Roberts English Class. They have accepted the responsibility for making the Nairn Centre Project" a huge success.

 
 

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