Easter dinner served up by generous students

When the students at École Stanley Knowles School decided to try to provide Easter dinner for Winnipeg’s least-fortunate citizens, they set a goal of feeding 200 people.

As it turned out, that aim was far too modest.

For six days, the Tyndall Park school’s Human Rights Interest Group – “We still haven’t thought of a cool name,” say its leaders – set up a table near the school’s main entrance and collected donations from students and staff for its “Dollars for Dinner” project.

When all the cash was counted, the $801 raised was enough to feed 310 people this Easter at Siloam Mission. It costs the Princess Street organization $2.58 for each meal it serves.

An appreciative Paul Dibra, events co-ordinator at Siloam Mission, happily accepted a cheque from the students.

“You don’t need to bring in $1 million to make a difference,” he said. “Every single dollar counts. I’m not just using that as a cliché – it really does.”

In three sittings, Siloam Mission served between 400 and 450 people on Easter Sunday. The meal consists of turkey and ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, vegetables, salad, buns and dessert.

Grade 8 student Tori Brown, one of the project organizers, said the idea for Dollars for Dinner began to form after eight students attended a human rights symposium at Tec Voc High School in early March.

“We came together and talked about homelessness. We saw an ad for the Easter dinner and thought we could try to raise money for Siloam Mission,” said Brown, who sat at the donation table every day with her sister, Lexie, a Grade 6 student.

For any donation of $1 or more, students were able to write their names on pieces of paper that were displayed on the school’s walls.

“The kids turned it into a real competition between the grades,” said teacher Brandi Vezina, who guided the students along with colleague Rhonda Beebe.

There was no competition, however, when it came to individual donations. Grade 3 student Dru Chriska-Ferreira, who turned nine on Jan. 16, decided to give $65 of his birthday money to help the cause.

“It just came to me that people were going to starve,” he said. “I don’t know how it feels to be like that, but I just wanted to help people to not feel like that this Easter.”

Sophia Ferreira, Dru’s mother, said it was typical behaviour for her son.

“Whenever he sees causes he wants to give,” she said. “His heart is very sweet. He gave his last $10 to the Terry Fox Run.”

Brown said the event was a resounding success, especially considering the lack of time for planning.

“We’re thinking of doing it every year, making it a tradition,” Brown said, “because it worked out so well this year.”