A group of grade schools have collected donations that filled a 20-foot U-Haul truck.
The FUNDrive initiative was organized by the Foundation for Education, a non-profit that supports education in Huron and Perth counties.
Their major partner is the Avon Maitland District School Board.
Schools that collected donations include Avon Public School, Upper Thames Elementary School, Eastdale Public School and Maitland River Elementary School. Students from Mitchell District High School helped load the truck at the Mitchell and District Arena.
Donated items include clothes, books and household items, and were purchased by the pound by Value Village in Stratford. Money goes to the foundation, which uses it for school programs such as FUNDrive and enriched learning opportunities, said Laura Pethick, the foundation’s executive director.
“This is a great opportunity for schools to support the foundation without giving us any money. We are all cleaning out our closets anyway because our kids are growing. We are keep everything out of the landfill, and it gets kids involved.”
Volunteers collected more than 200 black bags.
The foundation partnered with FUNDrive, an organization that helps non-profits and charitable organizations generate revenue, per their website.
The enriched learning opportunities, or enrichment workshops, through the foundation are a big hit, Pethick said.
Per the foundation's website, the workshops are designed by the foundation to enrich the curriculum across grades. It is a ‘free to the classroom’ hands-on learning series led by real-world professionals to over 5,000 students within the Avon Maitland District School Board each year
“We do five or six workshops per year. We may have a dancer from the Stratford Festival come out and do a hip hop routine. So the teacher would teach the unit, then we do the advanced experience by bringing out the dancer.”
“You just don’t know what will spark a student from these workshops.”
A full list of their activities can be found at foundationforeducation.ca.
