Ecole H.J. Cody High School will be doing its first annual H.J. Cody Gives Back event on April 25.
During the event, students throughout the school will be volunteering and giving back to the community in various ways.
Grade 9’s will be doing lakeshore cleanup from the pier to Centennial Park, the Grade 10’s will be holding a variety of events for senior citizens and pre-school aged children, the Grade 11’s will be doing a food drive and the Grade 12’s will be returning to their elementary schools to be reading buddies and run other activities.
One of the Grade 11 students who will be collecting food bank donations, Lila Eastwood, is hoping that by seeing groups of kids helping around the community others might be encouraged to help out as well.
“Even just showing people that it’s not hard to volunteer can help encourage others to participate in future volunteering opportunities.”
While collecting food bank donations, the Grade 11’s will be splitting into groups based on classes and going door to door to the homes within walking distance from the school.
“If community members aren’t home while we are doing it but want to donate they can leave the donation on their doorstep,” Eastwood said.
The Grade 10’s are truly doing a variety of things, teacher Nicole Round said.
“There is a group of students that will be going to Bethany Sylvan Lake doing inter-generational trivia, a group of students going to the Sylvan Lake Playgroup Society to hang out with younger kids, a group of students going to the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library, students doing games at the NexSource Centre and a group of students will be putting on a tea with tea donated from Tim Hortons at the school.”
The idea to do this came forward because of how the community has supported H.J. Cody and its students, Principal Alex Lambert said.
“The event is an opportunity for us to come together and give back to a community that continually gives us so much.”
When the event was first being planned, the school knew it wanted to diversify as much as possible Lambert added.
“We have nearly 800 students so instead of 800 students focusing in one area we will have students per grade creating an impact on many different facets of our community.”
Many community members and businesses are also getting involved, Lambert said.
“Mayor Hanson will be supporting the work of our Grade 9’s by joining them and Tim Hortons is donating hot chocolate and cookies.”
“Many parents have also volunteered to take part during the day,” Lambert added.
On April 25 the event will be taking place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
While this is the first time the school is doing the event the hope is to make it an annual one done by the school, Lambert said.
“It is our first go around and we are hoping for great success, but we are also open to feedback and pivoting if there is a need for future years.”