The Grade 5 class at St. Bernadette's shows the food they collected for their local St. Vincent de Paul society. (Vicky Bourassa / Special to The B.C. Catholic)
By Michael van der Pauw, principal of St. Bernadette's Elementary School
Every year, St. Bernadette students collect food items for our local St. Vincent de Paul Society. With a school population of roughly 2oo students, our goal is for every student to bring in five food items for a total of 1,000 items. In most years we hit or come close to hitting our target.
Grade 5 teacher Vicky Bourassa and her class lead the school in the collection each year. They count the items, check for expiration dates, look to see if items are damaged or not, and then sort the items into food groups. They keep a running tally and chart the progress of the school.
St. Bernadette's had an excellent campaign this year. The school brought in more items than ever before and shattered our previous record of 1,100 items. This year the school collected roughly 2,200 food items for the SVDP society—filling all their storage areas and then some!
We are very proud of the these acts of service to those in need.