The Times Advocate, 2004-04-21, Page 37Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Exeter Times–Advocate
37
St.Anne's CSS students help others
Students at St.Anne's Catholic Secondary School in Clinton recently raised over
5,000 food items to be distributed at area food banks and the Sagamok Reserve
north of Manitoulin Island.Above is the school's Hands of God group, which made
a visit to the Sagamok Reserve in March. (photo/submitted)
By Scott Nixon
TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF
CLINTON — A recent
food drive at St. Anne's
Catholic Secondary
School in Clinton drew
overwhelming response
from students.
A two-part Lenten pro-
ject by the students
raised 5,022 food items,
exceeding the goal of
5,000. The items will go
to food banks in Exeter,
Zurich, Clinton, Seaforth,
Goderich and Wingham,
as well as to the
Sagamok Reserve north
of Manitoulin Island.
School chaplain Bridget
Bates describes the food
drive as "a real life fishes
and loaves story."
The food drive included
a 24-hour fast-a-thon
April 2, during which 42
students from all grades
collected over 1,300 food
items. Items donated
included soup cans, Kraft
Dinner, pasta and tomato
sauce.
Grade 9 student Nakita
Benson of Exeter, who
participated in the fast-a-
thon, said the students
involved brought in a
minimum of 35 food
items each and played
games to keep their
minds off their hunger.
The fast ended the morn-
ing of April 3 with a pan-
cake and sausage break-
fast.
Benson said she had a
good time and would like
to participate again. She
said she wanted to get
involved because she
thought it would be fun
and her friends were
participating as well.
"I wasn't really aware
of the hunger ... I saw a
video and it kind of made
me upset, so I wanted to
(help)."
While the whole school
was involved with the
food drive, two groups
who had a huge role
were the school's Hands
of God group (Helping
And Nurturing Daughters
and Sons of God), and
Francine Visser's Grade
12 French Immersion
class. A Hands of God
visit to the Sagamok
Reserve inspired the stu-
dents to want to help
others.
The mission, held in
early March, included 10
students, two staffers
and two parent volun-
teers who spent a week
in Sagamok performing
community services like
painting, cleaning and
restoring a church hall.
They also shared their
faith with Sagamok resi-
dents. Once the group
returned back home,
they wanted to continue
to help the Sagamok peo-
ple.
Hands of God member
and Grade 12 student
Amber -Leigh Durand of
Goderich was another
student involved in the
food drive. She said the
amount of food raised
was "amazing."
"I'm really, really
impressed with how our
school did," she said. The
school normally holds a
food drive during
Christmas, but doesn't
get the type of response
it did with the recent
drive.
Durand attributed the
success of the food drive
to the fact classes
received family profiles
from the Sagamok
Panther Profile
EXETER — Tonight is Fun Night and Battle of the
Bands at South Huron District High School.
The event will take place from 7 p.m. - 11
p.m. in the large gym. There will be a vari-
ety of great games including blackjack,
euchre and two large inflatable games:
Twin Peaks and Gladiator. Along with the
great games, students will get the privilege
of enjoying the musical stylings of a variety
of groups within the school.
There will be draws for an assortment of
great prizes, including a 19" television,
DVD player, mp3 player, and much more!
The cost to attend the event is $2 per per-
son. This includes three coupons to play a game.
Additional coupons can be bought throughout the
evening for games and draw prizes. 0.S.A.I.D. will
be selling refreshments for the evening. Everyone is
welcome to attend!
This weekend is the Music Department's Cabaret.
Performances will be Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday
at 2 p.m. in the large gym at the school. Musical
entertainment for the Cabaret will be provided by
students in the jazz bands, concert bands, and choir,
along with a few solo and duet performances.
Snacks and refreshments will be provided. If you
would like to buy tickets, please call the school at
235 - 0880 and ask for Jean. Tickets are $5 each.
Students have been practising hard to prepare for
the event and we hope there will be a great turnout.
Hope to see you there!
Next Wednesday and Thursday, April 21 and 22,
will both be Ring Days at the school. There are
brochures available in the office for interested stu-
dents who would like get an idea of what he or she
is looking for in a school ring.
Grad Photo Retakes will take place April 30. Any
students who require their photo to be taken are
asked to sign up for an appointment in the office.
Students involved with the production of "The
Farm Show" have been working hard in preparation
of the upcoming performances in May. The
show will run from May 5 to 7 in the small
gym at the high school. Tickets are available
in the office for $5. Balcony tickets are also
being sold at Country Trenditions.
Coming events
April 21 — Fun Night and Battle of the
Bands
April 23 — Art students go to a Toronto Art
Gallery
April 24 — Cabaret
— Track and Field members to St. Thomas
April 25 — Cabaret
April 27 — Track and Field members to Petrolia
— Girls' rugby teams at St. Annes
April 28 — Boys' soccer in Mitchell
April 29 — Girls' soccer in Mitchell
— Junior boys' rugby at South Huron
ASHLEY
ERB
POLICE BRIEFS
Wallet stolen
from vehicle
ZURICH — On April 13 at 9:15 p.m. OPP were con-
tacted about a theft from a vehicle while at a job site
in Zurich. The officer learned a 26 -year-old man was
working at the Zurich community centre located just
off the Main Street of the village. He had left his wallet
inside an unlocked work truck that day between 10
a.m. and 4 p.m. Sometime during that time someone
entered the vehicle and stole a wallet.
The wallet was later located in the garbage minus
the cash, credit cards and social insurance number.
Reserve which told them
what the needs of each
family were. These pro-
files made students more
aware.
"It made students more
motivated that this (food)
is actually going to real
people and real families,"
Durand said.
As Bates described, the
Hands of God team start-
ed at St. Anne's last year.
After deciding they want-
ed to help people, they
had to decide where they
wanted to go.
"I said to them, `Dream
big. We'll go where you
want to go.' And they
decided they wanted to
do something in Canada
with First Nations."
Bates admits she
thought raising 5,000
food items "would be
pretty impossible," but
the whole school got
involved and exceeded
the goal.
Bates emphasizes get-
ting the family profiles of
Sagamok residents was
an important tool in rais-
ing the food. Next year,
she said the school hopes
to get profiles of Huron
County families in need
and raise food for them.
Information night
at Queensway
Queensway Nursing and Retirement Home volun-
teer Marg Cole votes for her top five funding pri-
orities in a campaign by Ontario Long Term Care.
Queensway held an information meeting last week
for family and friends of its residents. (photo/sub-
mitted)
HENSALL — Hensall's Queensway Nursing and
Retirement Home held an information night April 14
to provide information about long-term care for fami-
ly and friends of residents.
Administrator Gwen Good gave a presentation
about the recent Ontario Long Term Care campaign
regarding funding and what the top five priorities
are. Those in attendance were encouraged to fill out
a ballot ensuring their input into budget priorities.
Good also reviewed results of the Family Satisfaction
Surveys, voicing her appreciation of the good return
rate and the honesty and openness of the responses.
Director of care Christine Taylor spoke about recent
changes whereby the Ministry of Health Compliance
Officer may visit Long Term Care facilities at any
time.
She said this is a positive development as
Queensway has always met and exceeded standards.
Taylor cited the nursing home's successful
Compliance Reviews and Accreditations. THose facili-
ties with problems will be more closely monitored.
Social worker Maggie Deveau explained the con-
cept of a family council and her interest in pursuing
the implementation of a council at Queensway. In a
home such as Queensway, family and friends have
easy access to those able to deal with questions or
concerns but the home is always looking at ways to
improve the process and strengthen family involve-
ment.
Each Queensway departmental director spoke
briefly about developments in their department and
further questions and answers were provided over
refreshments.
Merle McLellan won the draw prize for two tick-
ets for the April 24 Forget Me Not Dinner and
Auction sponsored by the Huron County
Alzheimer Society.
— article submitted