Staff and students at Fred C. Cook Public School held a food drive for local refugees throughout the month of April, donating just over 600 non-perishable food items.
Settlement workers from YMCA Simcoe-Muskoka stopped by the school early Wednesday morning to collect the haul of donated goods in the front lobby. The Settlement Worker in Schools (SWIS) program provides services for new Canadian children and youth throughout schools in the county. The main objective of the program is to assist children and their families to integrate into their school and community.
The program has been running for about a decade in the province but is new to Simcoe County as of January 2022.
Fatime El Sabbagh, coordinator of the SWIS program, was happy to see the large donation from the school community, noting that 25 per cent of the local food bank's clientele are newcomers to Canada.
"There are new Canadians from many different countries, Mexico, Afghanistan, just recently Ukraine," she said.
The initiative, started by Fred C. Cook Principal Kulbir Dhaliwal and Vice-Principal Eunice Martinez, was part of the school's "Holiday Season of Fred C.C.", a way of celebrating diversity by recognizing the various holy days and holidays observed in the month of April.
The idea came about in December after Dhaliwal shared ideas and information with staff on decentering Christmas.
"Not eliminating Christmas, but how can we not make that the focus of everything that we do, and how can we add on with all the other global identities and the things that they celebrate," he said.
Together, the principals looked at the school board's holy day and holiday calendar and decided April would be a good month to launch the initiative, with many holidays taking place including Ramadan, Passover, Easter, and Sikh New Year.
Staff and students also attended an assembly earlier this week where they were able to share and learn about each other's cultural celebrations.
"It's amazing how it all came together," said Dhaliwal.
"It's been nice to see the students excited to share about their culture and what they celebrate and sharing more about themselves which allows us to get to know each other," added Martinez.
To conclude the month's learnings on diversity and culture, and in honour of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) the school had Irene Kurtz, a Holocaust survivor, speak to students about her lived experience as a young Jewish girl in the Second World War. She recently published a memoir, The Sound of the Whistle, sharing her story of heartbreak and survival during the Nazi invasion of Poland.
"Everybody has the same right to live, everybody is born the same way," said Kurtz.
Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of Kurtz's book, can reach out to the school, or purchase it online here.
To learn more about the YMCA Settlement Workers in Schools Program in Simcoe-Muskoka, visit here.
