There’s been a lot of change, stress and negativity happening in our lives right now, so we thought we’d brighten up your day with some fun, exciting news!
Hughenden Public School (HPS) has a yearly tradition of kindness called Candygrams, which Grade 11 student Grace Oxamitny came up with when she was in Grade 8.
Here’s how it works: you can buy a candy cane for one of your friends, leave a special note attached, and Grace will deliver it to them in their classroom the next morning.
Grace then uses the proceeds from Candygram sales to buy livestock for families in third-world countries, an open-minded and generous Wildcat tradition that has always been popular.
Unfortunately, because of COVID-19 restrictions, the junior and senior high could not participate in the activity this year, as they were all learning from home during Alberta’s second lockdown (Nov. 27- Jan. 11).
So, the teachers and Grace had to figure out a plan to keep this activity going.
After a lot of discussion, Grace volunteered to come to the school a couple times a week to hand out Candygrams to the elementary students.
This was not an easy task, but in the end it was all worth it.
This year only the Grades 4-6 classes could buy candy grams.
With so few people you would think that there wouldn’t be much of a donation. But amazingly, these few people set a new record for the biggest donation we have ever had, generating over $400.
We could not be more proud of our elementary students, and how this all turned out. Most importantly, they had fun in the process.
It wasn’t about the money, it was about spreading kindness to your peers and making their day a little better.
It warms our hearts.
“Well, we made over $400,” said Grace, “which was much more than what we’d make in a regular year.
“The majority of the sales were made by eager elementary students which really made me happy because it was so sweet how they would buy Candygrams for all their peers and some for their parents.
“It was just amazing to see the holiday spirit reflect in everyone despite the trying times,” concluded Grace.
What an amazing Wildcat Grace is!
Maybe next year we can beat the record again…
by Dawsyn Bomersback and Mesha Holte
