MANITOULIN—Each year, students from Central Manitoulin and Little Current Public Schools (CMPS, LCPS) rally towards the same noble cause—brightening other children’s Christmas morning.
Students gather toys, toiletries, books, pencils, necessities and other gifts to pack into special shoe boxes for those less fortunate. At CMPS, student volunteers help to pack, label and sort out the boxes, and also help to organize a Hallowe’en cake walk in October to raise the funds required to send the boxes to their destinations. Parent volunteers from CMPS donate cakes for this event, and also help to supervise and foot the bill for the items in the boxes.
Mrs. King would like to thank everyone who participated in the annual event, especially Lila Kiviaho who delivers the boxes to the school, picks them up and ensures their success. Mrs. King would also like to boast of how generous those on Manitoulin always are. “What a great community we live in, and what a great cause for children less fortunate! Thank you everyone!”
LCPS also took part in Operation Christmas Child this year in a big way. From November 6 to November 15, the staff and students of LCPS collected items and monetary donations. With any monetary donations received, Mrs. Gray, the Grade 5/6 teacher, spent the funds on behalf of the students and their families. In addition to the many items donated by families, LCPS received a total of $306.41. On Friday November 16, Mrs. Gray’s Grade 5/6 class packed all of the items and were able to make 43 boxes to donate to Operation Christmas Child.
At the end of the collection period, volunteers at Grace Bible Church loaded approximately 500 shoeboxes into the waiting truck provided by Manitoulin Transport. Ms. Kiviaho said this program is significant because it presents a gift directly to a child.
“It shows them that somebody cares for them, somebody loves them. It’s an internal uplift,” said Ms. Kiviaho, who started participating in the shoebox program in 1994 and brought it to Grace Bible Church in 1997. Since the program’s start, Manitoulin Island has shipped 13,482 shoeboxes overseas, an average of over 500 per year.
“I need to express my gratitude to all the people who participated,” said Ms. Kiviaho. “Every one of those boxes is important.”
