Rundle Elementary is a school of 435 children in northeast Calgary.  Over 75% of the children at Rundle are ESL students and a significant number have come to Calgary directly from another country. For many students, school life has been their first introduction to Canadian culture. Nevertheless, Rundle students are always caring, sharing and willing to help others in need. Examples of caring projects undertaken by Rundle students so far this year include fund raising for UNICEF at Halloween, gathering gifts for shoeboxes and hampers at Christmas time and, most recently, collecting coins to help children affected by the tsunami in South East Asia. 

Rundle students were saddened to hear about the devastation caused by the tsunami. So they decided to collect money to help replace things lost by children and families when the tsunami hit. As a celebration of Rundle’s Virtue of the Month – Caring - every class in the school gathered coins for one week. The coins were counted daily and a running total was posted outside the school office for all to see. The whole school felt great pride seeing the total rise every day.

In one week Rundle students raised a total of $854.78. This money was then used to purchase essential supplies for needy families and children. Here are just some of the items Rundle Elementary School bought: scribblers, crayons, loose-leaf paper, rulers, backpacks, pencil sharpeners, markers, pencils, glue sticks, scissors and erasers.  We also bought essential toiletries including shampoo, toothbrushes, soap, toothpaste, washcloths and towels. No care package would be complete without toys so we also purchased teddy bears, playdough, matchbox cars, dice, playing cards, tennis balls, skipping ropes and colouring books.  Finally we sent children’s clothing in the form of shorts and T-shirts. 

All of the items were packed into 16 backpacks and delivered to Calgary Emergency Medical Support (EMS) for shipping. The EMS put the backpacks into a large container on January 31, ready to be shipped to a small village in Sri Lanka. That container left Calgary on February 1st and will arrive at its destination in early March. EMS staff were touched by the generosity of Rundle students, especially when they found out that many of the students who had donated money came from war-torn countries and refugee camps themselves.

Not many students at Rundle Elementary have change to spare but, when faced with seeing others in need, they are always ready to step up to the plate and show how much they care. Their story is proof that every penny counts and that we can all make a contribution to improve our world.