Riverview Collegiate’s 125 students and 35 staff celebrated the Christmas season with a school banquet Dec. 15, thanks to support from Safeway, the Moose Jaw Co-op, and Superstore.
The opportunity came after River Street Promotions launched a grant-matching program with local high schools in an effort to promote activities centred around the health and well-being of students.
“Lots of our families might not have the opportunity to have a Christmas dinner, so we think it’s a nice thing we can offer to students, and it helps build our school community,” said Deana Kempel, Riverview’s principal who helped organize the event.
To run the program, the School Community Council (SCC) joined staff at Riverview to write a letter asking for support from a variety of grocery stores in Moose Jaw.
“This is quite an expensive event – it probably works out to be around $2,000. We give a complete turkey dinner for all the students, and then each student got a little gift to take home with them, which was a Riverview backpack with some hot chocolate and a cookie in it,” she said.
The gift card from Safeway was for $75, $200 was from the Moose Jaw Co-op, and the card from Superstore was for $50. In addition, the River Street Promotions grant added $600 to the total.
“I took students shopping. I just ran into classes – it was unplanned and impromptu – and just took a couple students with me each time. It was a random selection,” Kempel said.
“It’s kind of like a full-circle event. It’s great to be together and have that time together, but it’s a learning event too,” she added. “How many bags of veggies will we buy? How many heads of lettuce do we think we’ll actually need to make Caesar salad for that many (people)?”
Kempel said the opportunity couldn’t happen without the support of these businesses. “It just makes sure this is an activity that we can do, when we get donations like that.”
The program also saw support from Super Meats Catering, who provided certain food items to ensure safe food handling, and parents with Riverview’s SCC helped where needed.
“We’re kind of a small but mighty group. There are currently five members (in the SCC). We’re always looking for more parents to join, but the ones we do have are great,” Kempel said.
The message of wellness was delivered by students in Riverview’s Student Representative Council (SRC) and the Journey to Hope program, whose mandate is to deliver a message about mental health, wellness, and suicide prevention.
“You don’t realize that the holidays can be a hard time for everyone. There are more things to go through, you’re spending more money, your time is harder to manage…,” she said. “Maybe some people don’t have family to get together with over the holidays, so (Journey to Hope students) had some suggestions for this (as well).”
The message included a reminder to keep in touch with positive habits during the holiday season such as healthy eating, exercise, and personal boundaries like saying no.
Additionally, 15 Chromebooks scheduled for an upgrade and in otherwise good condition were distributed in a blind draw, giving some students an extra Christmas present. “They were pretty excited,” Kempel said.
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