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Students collecting donations for homeless

Students at St. Mary’s School are getting a lesson in empathy and goodwill this month. Grade 2 teacher Cassandra Lacroix is leading her class in a new project called Stocktober.
Cassandra Lacroix and her class are collecting items to help those without a home.
Cassandra Lacroix and her class are collecting items to help those without a home.

Students at St. Mary’s School are getting a lesson in empathy and goodwill this month.

Grade 2 teacher Cassandra Lacroix is leading her class in a new project called Stocktober. They are collecting items to be distributed to people on Edmonton’s streets through her brother Chris Hancock’s initiative, Just a Guy with a Pack.

Hancock came up with his idea — delivering items to people in need as he bikes or runs to work — while he was running across one of Edmonton’s bridges after a night shift. He saw a man on the bridge who he had worked with at the Neighbourhood Centre, which cares for those living on the streets and those in need.

“He saw this gentleman on the bridge and he was quite worried for him so he called the police to help and he waited with him,” said Lacroix. “The gentleman declined a ride anywhere safe but the police offered him some food and water. So my brother thought it that’s all he needed or all he wanted, maybe he could do that for people.”

Lacroix said her brother came across a number of people as he ran across the river valley daily, and thought he could help them out by bringing along a backpack filled with necessities to offer.

He doesn’t just bring them items, though. She said it’s important to him that he stops to talk to everyone he visits.

“That’s very important to him, to let them know they’re being heard, then he asks if he can do anything for them,” said Lacroix. “Sometimes they just want to be talked to, and sometimes they might need a pair of socks or during the heat wave it was always water.”

For Lacroix, the idea to help out the Just a Guy with a Pack campaign came from a curriculum-writing session in Edmonton. A colleague had mentioned she’d done Socktober – and idea she had adapted from YouTube sensation Kid President. Her program involved collecting socks to give the homeless.

“I didn’t want to do Socktober because that’s a lot of just socks for [Hancock] to give out on his runs,” said Lacroix.

Instead, she came up with Stocktober, and decided to step back and let her students take the lead on the project. After looking online at the backpack, she had the students decide on the five most important things to collect for Hancock to distribute.

They settled on meal replacement drinks; $5 gift cards to places people can get an inexpensive meal like Tim Hortons, Subway or McDonald’s; mittens, hats, socks and hand-warmers; mini toiletries like travel shampoo and conditioner or body wash; and granola or protein bars.

“It was neat, them being in control of this project, because they had a lot of decisions to make and some of the kids were intimidated at first because they’re so used to adults organizing things for them,” said Lacroix. “It was so empowering for them to know they can make decisions that can affect change. They’re very proud of themselves.”

Lacroix’s class built five collection boxes and decorated them like pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns to suit the Stocktober theme. Each box has a slot in the top, and the donations are sorted as they come in so each container is filled with one type of item.

The students also created a video about the Stocktober program to play for the entire school during the Thanksgiving Day celebration on Oct. 6, she said.

There are now posters up around the school and information about Stocktober is being distributed to families. After Thanksgiving break, donations began rolling in, she said.

“We’d love more than what we have, but it’s going to continue for the whole month of October and I’ll see where we end up in the end,” said Lacroix.

She said the class will gladly collect donations from the community as well, and items can be delivered to St. Mary’s School.

The students have grown attached to the project, she said. It began the day she first introduced them to the idea of helping people on the streets.

“The day we started was a bit serendipitous because that was the day we had the blizzard come in, so we all stood at the window, and I said, ‘Imagine if you had no home and that’s where you were living,’” said Lacroix. “They were just shocked that some people can’t find a place to shelter during those times.”

Stocktober has instilled a strong sense of empathy among her students, she said. Talking about people experiencing homelessness tugs at the students’ hearts because they are all well taken care of in their community, she said.

Lacroix said it’s been beneficial for the Grade 2 students to learn and understand there’s more to the world beyond their little piece of it.

“They’re able to develop empathy, develop kindness in treating each other,” she said. “I always tell them you don’t know what’s going on at somebody else’s house or why those people are there.”

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