Christine Bruce's grade 4/5 class at Sacred Heart school donated 26 knotted fleece blankets to Square One Community, Inc., to be distributed from there to the less fortunate in Moose Jaw who are enduring extreme cold.
Bruce explained that she had been inspired during the staff opening day Mass when the priest reminded staff that emulating Jesus requires actions, not just words.
"Our Holy Trinity division theme this year is 'God hold all creation in His hands,' and our school has its own theme in addition to that, which is to 'spread joy,'" Bruce said. "I was inspired to do just that with my religion program this year. In Holy Trinity teachers are asked each year to complete a personal growth plan that holds a religious component, so I wanted to tie my religion class to my personal growth plan and incorporate our school division's theme."
With the help of her students, fall intern Tamra Reeve, and division chaplain Lisa Busta, Bruce came up with a plan to help her students make blankets for the homeless.
The material required for 26 blankets came to about $2,000 from Fabricland. However, help from Fabricland staff and fellow Holy Trinity educators brought that price down to just under $1,000.
The grade 4/5 students have been and are continuing to fundraise to pay for the material of the blankets by selling cookies, doing the school recycling, and by coming up with a few of their own ideas. At this point, the students have raised around $700 to repay Sacred Heart School for buying the blanket material upfront.
To help make the blankets, Bruce's class collaborated with Ms. Douglas' grade 10 Catholic Studies students at Vanier Collegiate for a day, including an opening liturgy created by the grade 10s, some icebreaker games, a scavenger hunt around the school, and the Vanier Advent celebration assembly. Finally, they spent about two hours crafting the blankets themselves.
The blankets were turned over to Della Ferguson, board chair of Square One, during a presentation on Jan. 15. Busta also took the opportunity to perform a religious blessing on the blankets, including holy water.
Busta read to the students from Matthew 25:40, which reminds readers that the good deeds they do for others, no matter how lowly those others may seem to be, are also done for Jesus Christ.
"This is incredible, I don't think there's any more beautiful symbol than a blanket to symbolize love being wrapped around another," Ferguson told the grade 4/5s during the presentation.
"What you've done here is you've said (to the homeless who will receive the blankets), 'I see you, I hear you, I understand your need, and this is what I know how to do and how I can help.' So, I want to say thank you, and I will be taking these directly to the front line."
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