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Local kindergarten students embrace 'art' of giving helping hand

What started as an art project at W.H. Day School culminated with 'excited' students collecting 212 pieces of food for Helping Hand Food Bank of Bradford

The Helping Hand Food Bank got a helping hand this week from some local kindergarten students.

The genesis for the idea began with a colour mixing activity in Ms. Whiteside’s kindergarten class at W.H. Day Elementary School in Bradford.

The kids employed eye droppers filled with coloured water to create their own unique works of art on paper towels.

When asked what they wanted to do with the paper towels afterwards, the students came up with the idea of opening a shop to sell them to family members.

Once that idea took hold, the young artists decided to expand their portfolios and created more items for sale: bracelets, necklaces, colourful napkins, paintings, butterflies and flowers.

The class then had a discussion on how their families were going to pay for the items the students made and they decided that people could purchase their creations by bringing in donations for the local food bank. 

They collected 212 pieces of food for the Helping Hand Food Bank.

Lesley Coo, the school liaison for the food bank, dropped in to the school to collect the donations and said the kids’ initiative “made (her) day.”

“The students were excited to tell me about this project, and I was able to thank them on behalf of all of the people that they had helped,” said Coo, who said the students were “excited” to be able to help others.

“They had been talking about making a difference and this was a concrete way that they could make a difference to people in their community,” she said.

Since 1991, the Helping Hand Food Bank has worked to combat food insecurity, thanks to the generous support of donors and volunteers.

The food bank is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 to 3 p.m. and Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m.

For more information about the food bank, visit their website, call 905-775-2824 or email [email protected]