Stephanie Grisbrook and Rob Burzminski from Monsignor McCoy stand with food items for hampers.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education school communities have come together during the Holiday Season.
Schools within the division have been collecting donations of food and money from families to create Christmas hampers to give to families in need.
Monsignor McCoy High School will be giving hampers to more than 35 families with connections to the school.
“We knew this year would be more difficult and harder for our families,” said counsellor Natasha Taylor. “We reached out to our school community and connected with families, and our plan was to give families a basic turkey dinner.”
Taylor says the outpouring of support allowed the school to go above and beyond its first plan.
“We had students, staff, families and even alumni reach out to help,” she said. “We reached out to other schools to see if they needed help, and we’re helping two other schools with Christmas hampers.”
Taylor says around 35 hampers were constructed and will be given out before the winter break.
“In addition to the turkey dinner, we were able to provide pancake mix, peanut butter, jam, bread, macaroni and cheese, and a gift card they can use to purchase gifts for their families,” said Taylor. “This has really exceeded our expectation in every way.
“We just want to say thank-you for the support.”
If any other families are in need of last-minute help, they can reach out to McCoy High School for more information.
St. Mary’s School counsellor Amy Gans and teacher Alexa Batsel say hampers given out at their school will go to those who need them most.
“We have 17 families from our school community receiving a hamper this year,” said Batsel. “Families are able to contact us every year and we provide them with a hamper.”
Gans says a lot will be packed into each hamper.
“There’s pantry items and non-perishable items,” she said. “There’s a turkey, fresh items like cheese, butter, eggs, fresh bread, and then thanks to Kiwanis and other donors we can include a movie package.”
St. Michael’s, St. Patrick’s and Notre Dame schools also did school hampers, bringing the total to 65 within MHCBE.
