Lloydminster generosity has come in for praise after the Sprinkle the World with Kindness effort of pre-Kindergarten kids raised some handy change for local charities.
The youngsters at Mother Teresa Early Childhood Education Centre designed donuts which were then baked by Sobeys and sold to a savoury clientele that began challenging each other to outdo their generosity. Other schools along with hockey teams and local businesses got in on the donut purchasing effort which tallied more than 8,000 sweet delights over the last few weeks.
KidSport Lloydminster collected $1,116. Also getting a similar benefit were Lloydminster Rescue Squad, Border Paws Animal Shelter and Furbabies Furever Homes.
Given the economic challenges facing nonprofits, Kaley McLeod chair of KidSport Lloydminster says they are honoured to have been nominated for the cash injection. She highlighted the support of the Lloydminster Catholic School Division as they rallied behind the Mother Teresa kids.
“Right now our funding requests are up – potentially higher than they have ever been. We have increased our grant limits slightly to help accommodate the rising costs – inflation and all of those things that we are trying to navigate. So it’s going to make it possible for more kids to participate in sport.”
Other charities to benefit were Big Brother Big Sisters and The Goat’s Christmas Wish each receiving $558.
Michelle Rusteika owner/operator with Sobeys Lloydminster who witnessed the final product flying off the shelves is also grateful for all the support as kids came up with an idea and asked the community to pitch in.
“Like just how the community supported it, that’s the part that’s awe-inspiring. Just seeing the hockey teams come in and challenge other hockey teams. So then you’ve got kids helping kids to help their community. So it was just being paid forward everyday.”
Rusteika said some days an anonymous donation of over $1000 would clean out the shelves of all the donuts.
The campaign is now in its second season and grade 2 teacher Paige Kindopp credits the all round support of staff as they contemplate a third season.
The school held a local organization fair in late January where several nonprofits were invited to set up a table in the school gym and the kids got to visit them and choose which causes they wanted to contribute to.
Kindopp says the school uses an inquiry-based learning process.
“Our vision is to have students be a part of the process and learn through hands-on experiences. So the families and the students got to travel around and learn about the local organizations that help our families, our animals and our community. So right from the start they bought in and they knew that they were going to be helping the community.”
The six recipient charities were at the school on Friday for cheque presentations.