Students from École Sutton School have come together to collect necessary supplies and other items in support of Ukrainian refugees, especially children, that have fled the war in Ukraine to other parts of Europe. Sonia Bahl’s grade four class initiated the project and they are collaborating with various local business’ to send items to Camp Žilina, who provides free accommodation to refugees from the Ukraine, and an orphanage in Poland that is providing safety for children from Mariupol.
The project started off with Bahl’s students creating cards for Ukrainian refugees, but then it snowballed to become something more.
“Then we started getting a little bit more serious about getting boxes and filling up the boxes with toys, tutus, etc.,” said Harry, one of the grade four students involved in the project.
The class connected with Camp Žilina after one of the student’s parents, whom is from Slovakia, reached out to Bahl.
“Kiera’s mom wrote to me telling me about her contact and her sister was actually helping in Camp Žilina. So, that’s how we found our first recipient. The other recipient we found, they are 40 children from Mariupol and they are in Poland so we are sending things to them also,” said Bahl.
The class collaborated with transportation company DHL to ensure that these boxes were transported to where they needed to go. The boxes are shipped on a plane and they have to pass through customs, creating for a more lengthy process, and then they are transferred to the recipients.
“From somebody in our class named Laurielle, her father gave us $5,000 for transportation,” mentioned Harry.
“On our boxes, we have put pictures of the students here with drawings so that the custom people know that these are Canadian children helping Ukrainian children. We are hoping they are not going to stop our boxes from going through the process of customs,” added Bahl.
The class partnered with Cascades and BMR, who gave the students the boxes they needed to collect supplies, and other businesses in Sutton to serve as drop off points for the supplies.
“We put boxes at plenty of shops. There’s Vert Partout, la Brouërie, Pharmacie Brunet, la Rumeur Affamée, Ramen, Café Yamabiko, and Mollies,” said Kiera.
École Sutton School is a shared space between the French Val-des-Cerfs school board and the English Eastern Townships School Board. While Bahl’s class is a part of Val-des-Cerfs, the entire school came together to put boxes outside the classroom doors.
One of the students’ favourite parts about the project was having to contact their partners themselves to see if they were interested in collaborating and connecting with the local community.
“Some people in the class had to film videos and send them on Facebook so hopefully everyone else would start donating more toothpaste, tooth brushes, stuff like that,” said Maxime.
“As a teacher, I wanted the students to do the work; it’s their project,” noted Bahl.
Students are currently looking for protein bars, baby formula, first aide kits, school materials, and sleeping bags. They are trying to avoid any items, such as video games, that may include forms of violence.Some of the items collected will also be reserved for the Ukrainian refugees that make their way to the local area.
“We have liquid soap that might spill and open and make everything wet,” said Maxime.
In terms of what they have learned from the experience, it all came down to kindness, patience, recognizing that others need help, and having fun while doing it.
“It’s fun knowing that you started the project that made everyone realize that we are not the only one that need things at this moment,” said Maya.
The class will be continue to collect supplies until June 22. All items can be dropped off at any of the locations listed below:
- Vert Partout
- la Brouërie
- Pharmacie Brunet
- la Rumeur Affamée
- Ramen
- Café Yamabiko
- Mollies
- BMR
- École Sutton School
Listen to the full interview below: