Ride to Conquer Cancer Part 2 - Jeremy Goes Blue

         

          After the first donation we gave to Jane Weller, who is a teacher participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, we decided that we'd do it again! This time we decided to dye our principal's hair blue! The goal was to raise $500 and we would dye his hair blue. Suddenly, other teachers volunteered to help us raise money by getting their hair streaked or wearing something silly for a day. In the end, we had goals starting at $100 (Ian would wear a bonnet all day) to $1500 (Bonnie gets a "cute" Buzz Cut).

          After a few weeks of receiving donations, the day of the event had finally arrived. We were able to raise over $800 and achieve six of our goals! Here are the teachers that had to get their hair streaked or wear something silly:

$100 - Ian Will Wear a Bonnet All Day

$200 - Jen Gets a Red Streak

$300 - Sara and Janice Will Wear "Insane Clown
Posse" Makeup for One Day

$500 - Jeremy Will Dye His Hair Blue

$600 - Lynn Gets a Pink Streak

$800 - Lynda Gets a Pink Streak

Animals In Need

SJS members donating to S.N.A.P.P.S

          The donations from our Christmas Bake Sale have finally been put to use! From the beginning, the money we raised was going to go towards animals in need, and on Wednesday April 3rd, we were able to personally donate to S.N.A.P.P.S (Squamish Neighbourhood Animal Partnership & Protection Society). The Social Justice Squad was lucky to have members from S.N.A.P.P.S come to our school and speak to the students about their cause. Hearing about their cause and their personal experiences was incredibly insightful for our members and it assured us that our donation was going to a great cause.

Valentine's Day Bake Sale

         
          Since our last bake sale was incredibly successful, the Social Justice Squad decided to have another one! The theme for this bake sale was Valentine's day and donations went to two different causes. All money donations went to the Ride to Conquer Cancer and all clothing donations went to Safe Houses in North Vancouver as well as Vancouver.

          The bake sale was going to be on Valentine's Day, which was a Thursday, so we decided to make the dough on Tuesday and let it chill so that we could bake the cookies on Wednesday. The staff of Mountainside were also very generous and donated lots of treats for our bake sale. Once the bake sale began everyone was quite keen to donate what they could for our fundraiser. With the amount of donations we were getting, our bake sale ended up being more successful than our first one! We immediately wrote a cheque for Jane Weller, who is a teacher that is going to participate in the Ride To Conquer Cancer, and she was thrilled with our donation.

SJS members giving Jane our donation!

Meeting Craig Kielburger!

          On February 8th, SJS members were able to meet an inspirational man. We met Craig Kielburger, founder of Free The Children and Me to We. Having the opportunity to listen to Craig's presentation and then personally speak with him was a great experience for the Social Justice Squad. It reminded us that if a group of Twelve-Twelve-Year-Olds can start something that has become known internationally, then our small group from Mountainside can make a difference as well.

Our Next Project

Sugar Cookies!

          For our next project we decided to have a bake sale fundraiser for animals in need. The bake sale would take place on the 18th of December, which is today. Many things had to be done to prepare for this fundraiser, such as making signs and announcements, baking treats and having people donate baked goods, as well as setting up on the day of the sale.

Making Signs

Making Rice Krispie Squares

          Today we had everything set up and we were ready to begin the bake sale at noon. People quickly became interested in our table once they saw all the treats and we had customers in no time. A crowd of students and staff had gathered around our table and were ready to buy many baked goods. Each treat only cost 25 cents, yet we had many generous people donating much more! 

Setting Up

Everyone's Buying!

          Our bake sale ended once lunch was over and we were very impressed by its success. We sold a large portion of our baked goods in a quick amount of time and we raised over twice as much money as we thought we would. This was a very enjoyable project and we will be having another bake sale tomorrow!

Our Team!

Coin Drive!

          The Social Justice Squad has decided to take part in the Free the Children Penny Drive, which is the largest coin drive in Canadian history. Every $25 bag that is donated is enough to provide clean water for one person for life! We first heard of this campaign when we went to We Day and we immediately began preparing for our coin drive. We began making signs and doing presentations to bring awareness to our coin drive and its cause. The coin drives end on the 20th of December so students have a couple more days to bring in their coins, and we're hoping to have a few $25 bags filled!

Chili Time!

Setting Up

Immediately we had people coming over!

          On the 27th of November we made our way to the Downtown Eastside. We arrived not only with chili, but with the teriyaki rice that was given to us by Pam as well as some winter clothing for anyone to take. We arrived there a little after 1:00pm and began to set up immediately. We had a table for the food and we had hung the clothing onto the side of the bus. Shortly after setting up, people were approaching us and we happily gave them a bowl of hot chili or teriyaki rice or both! After collecting their food, many people went over to the bus to grab themselves a nice jacket or sweater and talk to our group. Only a half hour later, and all the food had been given away. The locals were very thankful for the food and clothing and our group could not have felt more satisfied. Helping others is a wonderful feeling and we were all really proud of the success of this project. It was a great experience for us and we hope to do it again soon!

The Social Justice Squad!