Building Community Relationships

We would like to organize a Community Outreach group comprised of students and teachers. Our focus will be to educate ourselves about making a difference in our community, character building, dispelling myths, building cultural awareness and reflecting on our learning. We would like to volunteer at a food bank in the community and learn about the people that volunteer and use the services provided there. This would help us to dispel myths about the type of people that use a food bank and hopefully spark some interest with students to volunteer. We would like to visit an animal shelter to learn about the animals that are up for adoption and create awareness about pets in different cultures and how they are treated. We would like to visit a senior's residence to help dispel myths about seniors and to share life stories and develop relationships. McBride Public School would like the opportunity to allow as many children as possible to be able to participate and encourage global citizenship awareness.

Update (December 24, 2011)

December 23, 2011

At the start of the school year about 30 grade 4 and 5 McBride Ave. P.S. students formed the Be the Change club. The mission of this group was to identify agencies in the community, visit with them, understand the services they provide and then share this learning with the rest of the school. We decided to split up into three focus groups.

On November 23rd our first group visited the Mississauga Animal Shelter. The purpose was to learn about the services that the animal shelter provides, to understand why we have animal shelters in our community to develop awareness about the importance of pets, to understand why people adopt pets from a shelter, and to find out the needs of the shelter in order to operate.

Then on November 24th, another group of students visited the seniors at Thorne Lodge Retirement Home in Mississauga. Many McBride students pass this retirement home on their way to school every day but didn’t know anything about the residents that live there. This group got a chance to speak with the residents, to share their life experiences, to learn about the services that senior’s residences provide, and to dispel myths about aging.

And on November 29th our third group visited the Seva Food Bank in our community. The goal was to learn about how the food bank sorts and distributes food, why people and organizations donate to food banks, why people and families need to use food banks and to find out about the people that use food banks.

On December the 9th our students shared their findings through reflections during a school-wide Be the Change assembly. Representatives from all three community organizations participated in the assembly and three of the seniors that the students met during their visit to Thorne Lodge Retirement Home were invited to attend.

The students that visited the Mississauga Animal Shelter shared that during their visit many of their questions were answered and learned that the pets that people adopt become an important part of a family.

Through engaging with the seniors at the Thorne Lodge Retirement Home, the students discovered that seniors are a living library with many stories and experiences to share.
Our Seva Food bank group learned that the people that use food banks may have lost their jobs or become ill.

All three groups have pledged to raise awareness. They plan a return visit in the New Year to develop a plan of continued support.

Update (May 20, 2012)

As we returned to school in January our Be the Change group met and decided to continue to learn about other agencies in our community that are part of our three focus groups.

On March 20th our senior’s group visited the Mississauga Senior’s Centre. We learned that the people that visit the centre prefer to be called older adults rather than seniors. We watched as they participated in many activities including morning exercise, playing pool, painting classes, learning about and accessing computers and the Internet and we saw a cafe staffed by volunteers where the older adults can enjoy lunch for a very reasonable price. There was a real sense of friendship throughout the centre.

On May 8th our animal shelter group visited the PetSmart store in our community. Here we learned about their mission which is to support programs that save the lives of homeless animals. We were relieved to hear that PetSmart does not accept any dogs from puppy mills or breeders. We interacted with the cats and kittens and learned that the hope is that all of them will be adopted and that PetSmart provides discounts on items in the store in order to encourage adoptions. The children also had an opportunity to hold a snake.

On May 10th our food bank group visited the Salvation Army. Our group learned about the various services that the Salvation Army provides including a food bank. The Salvation Army believes in helping those in need while maintaining their dignity. We were most impressed by a summer camp for children that may not have the opportunity or financial means to attend camp. The Thrift Stores that the Salvation Army run help raise funds for camp.

To share our learning with the rest of the school one of our students wrote an article and some of the students wrote statements about their learning. We will be sharing this with McBride P.S. families in the final school newsletter of the year.

We are extremely grateful for the funding we received to be able to participate and learn about the various groups and services on our community and dispel myths about the people that access these services. We have made valuable community connections and everyone has invited us back. People from the various agencies were very impressed that we would take an interest in community services and learn about what we can do to make a difference. Our hope is to provide the same opportunity for other McBride students next year.