For the second year in a row, the Grade 3/4 class at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic School, with the help of the whole school community, has once again come together to put December's Virtue of Charity into action and support the most vulnerable in our city.
On the heels of our food bank collection last year, the students wanted to come up with a new initiative to help the homeless. One child remarked that they had seen many people in downtown Toronto without shoes and socks this summer, and from there grew the idea to put our Catholic faith into action with the "Socks on the Street" sock collection campaign.
Over a period of three weeks, the students had many opportunities for cross-curricular learning. They made posters and radio ads (over the P.A. system) to communicate our drive, created a school-wide pictogragh and numerous bar graph to track our sock data, and consistently reflected on our calling as a Catholic community to come together and help the most needy amongst us.
Incredibly, the school community donated almost 650 pairs of socks! They have all since been donated to the Out of the Cold organization running out of St. Basil's Catholic Church in Toronto. The organization was truly in awe of our school community's generosity.
The top three classes with the highest donations will receive a hot chocolate and cookies treat for their participation. For the Grade 3/4 class running the initiative, though, it was once again quite the eye-opening and humbling experience to put our faith into action and try to bring a bit of hope to the people of Toronto, especially during the Advent season.
