Poverty Awareness and Education

As part of our Social Studies we are learning about how to be a good citizen and we also learn about poverty in the world and the impacts it has on our community. I will be organizing a visit to the Gathering Place which is a service center committed to building community, promoting equality and providing nourishment. It exists to meet the needs of people whom society has failed.

The programs and services of the Gathering Place are offered primarily to people who are homeless or live in less than desirable housing conditions, people who are often unemployed and to people who do not have adequate social supports at this time in their lives.
We are also working with Vibrant communities which brings together people living in poverty, government, the community sector and the private sector to develop solutions collaboratively. we will be holding a mock Citizen's voice session with our students with the help of Ruth MacDonald from Vibrant Communities and some citizens. Citizen's Voice provides a solution-based discussion forum for people living with low income/poverty, bringing them together to meet and talk on a regular basis in a sharing and supportive environment.

Update (June 1, 2016)

Our class visited The Gathering Place today and we received an excellent tour and the students were informed about the how this place began and how it has evolved and the programs they offer. They were able to see guests of the facility during their visit and asked many questions. upon our return to school we discussed our role and what we can do and the class decided to hold a drive for items that they need (shampoo/conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, etc) here at the school.
We will be holding our Citizen's Voice session as the second part of our project on June 10th and will update after that as well.
We used $135 for the bus so far and we are using some of the left over for refreshments at our Citizen's Voice and the rest will be used to purchase toiletries for The Gathering Place.

Update (June 10, 2016)

Our Grade 6 students participated in a Citizan's Voice today. Four representatives from the organization came to our school to have a meeting. Two of the people have been living or are currently living in poverty and they told their stories and the students were able to ask questions and offer their thoughts and opinions.