Give 4 Christmas

There are only a couple of weeks left before Christmas.  People from around the world are preparing to celebrate the holidays with friends and family.  Gifts will be exchanged.  Great feasts will be shared.  And somewhere, a person, a child, a family will go hungry.

A group of students from St. Elizabeth School in Thunder Bay, Ontario are making an effort to reduce the number of people suffering and going hungry this holiday season.  They have issued a Give 4 Christmas challenge that encourages people to perform acts of giving and kindness during the holidays and share that experience with others.  They hope that sharing their experience will influence others to perform further acts of generosity.

These children model the behavior they hope to inspire in others.  In early December, they hold a bake, raffle, and “yard sale” to raise money.  The sixth grade students then take that money and purchase food for the needy.  They hand deliver that food to the local shelter where they tour the facility and get a close look into the world of homelessness and hunger.

Mr. Peter Cameron, sixth grade teacher at St. Elizabeth School, expressed his pride at the work his students have done. “I am incredibly proud of my students’ Christmas giving initiative. They wanted to share our tradition of Christmas giving at St. Elizabeth School and challenge others throughout the world to start or share a tradition (big or small) of their own!”

So many people perform acts of kindness during the holidays, but how many of them share their stories?  Do you?  If you haven’t before, find a way to show an act of kindness this holiday season.  Start small and purchase a suspended coffee from your local coffee shop.  Or go big and start a charity.  It doesn’t matter.  Either way come back and share your story with us and with the children of St. Elizabeth School.  Help them continue to grow their movement that has already reached people from over 60 countries.  Check out their website and story and make sure to leave them with your story.

To the children of St. Elizabeth School, Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Barch, and Mr. Smith…you have inspired us.  Keep up the good work!