Charlie Lake students fundraising for the SPCA

CHARLIE LAKE, B.C. — A group of students from Charlie Lake Elementary are fundraising for the SPCA and will also be dropping by to visit local seniors on Valentine’s Day.

Kindergarten teacher Cara McCabe and Kathleen Chartrand, who teaches a grade one and two split class, started the fundraising event last year to help the local SPCA.

McCabe said the two classes have been fundraising for about a week so far this year and will deliver the donations to the SPCA on Valentine’s Day.

“We do a lot of talking about kindness and how we can be kind to others, and then we branch out to how we can be kind to animals in our environment,” McCabe explained.

The students are accepting monetary donations or items the SPCA needs, such as puppy pads, kibble, canned food, clumping cat litter, SD cards, USB drives, and 8.5 x 11-inch printer paper.

Because it’s Valentine’s Day when the classes drop off donations to the SPCA, the students will also visit some seniors and deliver cards to “help brighten up their world.”

The idea stems from when kids made cards and stuck them on bus windows while COVID-19 restrictions were in place.

“We took a bus that first year we weren’t able to go in, so we just delivered them outdoors, then we kind of did a tour around the block in our bus, and we waved,” she explained.

Even though restrictions have eased, the teachers decided to make it a yearly tradition.

“This year, we’re really excited because we get to go into the building and meet some of the residents and give them their gifts from us,” McCabe said.

The students will also have the chance to check out the city’s new temporary art installation, Impulse.

“We’re more of a rural school, so we’re a little bit more limited on some of the things that we can do in Fort St. John,” McCabe said.

“So we thought, hey, we’re making a trip, let’s make this amazing for the kids and show them that extra little bit as well.”

Donations can be dropped off at the Charlie Lake Elementary School at 12655 Charlie Lake Frontage Road or by emailing either McCabe at cstephens@prn.bc.ca or Chartrand at kchartrand@prn.bc.ca.