First Avenue School, Ottawa

A class of action!

The Grade 4 French immersion students of First Avenue School in Ottawa presented CARE Canada with a cheque for $1,905 to help people in Myanmar who survived Cyclone Nargis. This is their story.

Dear CARE Canada,

In March 2008, a new teacher came to our class. Mme LeBlanc had been traveling with her family around the world for eight months.

During her trip, she was able to stay in a small community in the North of Thailand. The people who lived there were refugees from Burma. She could not believe how generous these people could be. They had so little but could give so much and always with a big smile on their faces.

Then, a devastating cyclone called Nargis ravaged the countryside in Burma. People there live with very little and they lost what they had. We talked a lot about it in class. Our teacher told us about the humble people she had met from Burma. She told us that, even at our age, we could make a difference. A small act can help so many people.

We wanted to help out on our own without asking anything from our parents. Our teacher offered to make a donation to a charity to help in Burma. For this donation, we would give some of our spare time and volunteer to help at our school. By helping our community, we helped another one far away.

Our parents were so enthusiastic about this project that they decided to donate money…and they were so generous! We raised 1905.00$! We thank our parents so much! On top of this, the government said they would match our money raised. We can make a difference!

Luckily for us, one of our classmate’s dad works for CARE Canada. We were able to speak to Mr. McCort and he explained to us where the money would go.

By talking about the community of Burma, we learned that we have a lot and they don’t. By helping, we were able to send money for clean water and good food. By doing a little, it makes a huge impact. We are really happy to know that in Burma, someone will have clean water and healthy food.

Grade 4 Immersion
First Avenue School, Ottawa