Grade 8 students in Leamington collected 15 laundry baskets full of items for the Well-Come Centre for Human Potential while learning about social justice topics.

A session involving poverty and homelessness affected the St. Louis Elementary students in such a way that they decided to assemble a small committee geared to making a difference in that particular area.

Four students - Angela Boui, Melissa Gebrael, Carissa Farias, and Madison Mastronardi - organized and implemented a school-wide project to collect and donate items to a homeless shelter.

The group chose a shelter and created a wish list of items to donate. The girls then wrote a notice to go home with each student with all the project details. They went to each classroom to explain how and why they decided to make a difference.

The girls and their teacher, Carla Aquino, were overwhelmed when they went back to collect all of the items.

“Families donated blankets, clothes, food, towels, pillows. The list goes on and on,” says Aquino. “As a Catholic school teacher, words cannot describe how proud I am of my students.”