Today we called and spoke to Ms. Fairley. She works with Home of Grace Care Centre and will be travelling there this summer.

From the call we learned that:

There are 20 children who sleep there and 80 who eat there through their lunch program. 5 are away at boarding school and there are 7 staff members.

They eat a few times a day now: Breakfast is tea and toast with butter, lunch is rice and beans, they have a snack after school of a porridge drink and Dinner is at 9pm with consists of rice and a corn dumpling.

They do not have access to water so they have to wake up as early as 3am to go fetch water for the day.

They do not have much free time outside of school.

They have two manually operating sewing machines and the older children are learning to make re-useable grocery bags. The reason for this is that Kenya passed a law that bans plastic bags so they need re-useable ones to use. They are a simple pattern to learn how to sew and they can also sell the bags for income.

After the call, the students discussed amongst themselves and wrote down how they think the money would be best spent. Doing a quick tally of the sticky note responses, the money we raised will be dedicated to: sewing lessons, sports equipment and support for access to clean and safe water.

We did some learning around the issues that Seniors in Halton Region face and we learned:

As per the study "Our Halton 2018 - Seniors"

• 27% of Halton's population are seniors.

• 17% are clients of food banks.

• 12% live in poverty

• Halton Hills has the highest incidence of low-income seniors over 85 at 11.3% and second only to Milton in the 75-84 age bracket​​

We also learned that According to the "2012 International Federation of Aging" report commissioned by the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the most prominent issue facing seniors is finding means to become, or remain, socially included and connected to their community.

This is part of the reason why we make cards for Birkdale Place each year for Valentines Day. It is our way of connecting with the residents there and letting them know that we are thinking of them.

We are finished working on our own display that represents what we stand for. What are the social justice issues we are passionate about as individuals?

The YA Club is holding a Food Drive in support of the Milton Food Bank starting on Oct. 30th and ending on Nov. 1st.The Milton Food Bank currently supports 400 local families. The number of individuals it supports is up to 800 when children are included. These people are our neighbours, friends, and community members. They are able to only access the food bank once a month so, it is important that we collect the much needed items in order to support this great, local resource that benefits so many Milton families.

The students called and spoke to the Food Bank supervisor to find out their most needed items. Please consider donating the following items: rice, canned protein (e.g. tuna, salmon, beans), canned fruits and vegetables, canned soup, crackers, cookies, school-safe lunch box snacks and juice boxes. They will also accept cereal, oatmeal, granola bars, pasta and lentils.

The two items they do NOT need at this time are: Kraft Dinner and baked beans.

Please check expiry dates before donating, we cannot accept any items that have expired.

Please send the items to school with your child, or drop them off in one of the boxes located in the front foyer of the school. Thank you for your support of this Social Justice club in their efforts to put their knowledge into ACTION.

If you have any questions, please contact one of the YA Club teachers: Mrs. Holland, Mme Jang or Mrs. Johal

The YA Club is working on researching food insecurity and planning how best to promote this years Food Drive. They phoned the Food Bank to learn about the people who use it, the number of people it supports and the much needed items they require. They then take that knowledge and plan how best to share that information with the school and community, promote the food drive and track the collection of food.

Here's a glimpse into some of that planning.

The students have been researching and learning more about the history and impact of Residential Schools in order to prepare for Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30th.

We know that simply wearing an Orange Shirt isn't enough. True reconciliation is only possible when we educate ourselves about the past, recognize this is an on going process, and is the responsibility of every Canadian in order to better support survivors of Residential schools. The impact is inter-generational and cannot be resolved by a single gesture, action or statement.

The TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada) Report provided 94 Calls to Action for indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians to come together in an effort to help repair the harm caused by residential schools and move forward with reconciliation.

Part of that is to learn about the history of Residential schools, its impact on those forced to attend and their stories to be heard. To learn more, take a look at http://www.trc.ca/about-us/residential-school.html

Why an Orange Shirt?

In 1973 six-year old Phyllis Webstad was gifted a brand new orange shirt from her grandmother and wore it to the residential (mission) school she attended in British Columbia. Upon her arrival, school officials removed and discarded the shirt from her and replaced it with a school uniform. This greatly impacted the mental and emotional well-being of Webstad and symbolized that "her feelings never mattered." Hear Phyllis's story here http://www.orangeshirtday.org/

Did you know that the Mohawk Institute was the first operating Residential school in Canada? It is located in Brantford, Ontario. It is now known as the Woodlawn Cultural Centre they are working to "Save the Evidence" and turn the former Residential School into a Museum. To learn more, please refer to this link: http://woodlandculturalcentre.ca/museum/

Image source: http://www.etfo.ca/BuildingAJustSociety/FNMI/pages/orangeshirtday.aspx

Image source: courtesy of T. Holland