On Friday, Dec. 12, Bow Valley High School’s Learning Commons was packed from one end to the other with the gifts, clothing, winter items, food, cleaning supplies, and other necessities and donations from students, staff, BVHS families, and community members. Helping Hampers 2015 had wrapped up and, oh, what a wrapping it was!
To say that it was impressive would be an understatement: there was hardly any floor space to be seen until Leadership students and others who volunteered to wrap, package, and group items began to do so. Under the sparkly lights of the Christmas tree that had been set up for the season, the spirit of Christmas and giving was alive and well at BVHS!
Bow Valley High School students and staff, supported this year by several community members, businesses, and groups, were able to bring in a record amount of items to support these future Bobcats for at least three months and much more for others too! They are extremely grateful for the additional support for the 2015 campaign.
On Dec. 15, Bow Valley’s Helping Hampers were delivered to the various families – some who had lost jobs or suffered a family illness, and some who are single parents trying to work multiple jobs in a tough economy to provide the best they can for their families.
Those who helped deliver the Christmas gifts, Christmas dinners, and food, cleaning supplies, and other important items, were treated to lots of hugs and some tears of amazement at the generosity of the BVHS Bobcat family. It really was a unique opportunity to meet great people at a real moment of need and provide food, gifts, and hope! These encounters will not be forgotten and the emotional impressions will resound for some time.
Acts such as these are very much a part of what Bow Valley is about. Servant leadership is a cornerstone of the school’s culture: it is woven into the very fabric of Bow Valley life to do good in the world when they can and reach out to others to give back in meaningful ways, especially when the need is at its highest. Additionally, helping students connect with meaningful ideas and people is a BVHS foundational principle. The Helping Hampers initiative puts both of these aspects into action in an amazing way.
Clearly, these attitudes are not just an espoused value: it is something lived, enacted, and carried out with pride and care to support people in the learning community who need it, hoping to help them get back on their feet and feel loved and supported when it may seem that life is harder than it could be. This attitude is an integral part of what it means to be a Bobcat!
By the numbers, Helping Hampers 2015 looks like this:
– $6,200 in cash donations; $5,000 in cash to be donated to the Cochrane Activettes
– 2,200 kilograms of food, which was delivered to the families Bow Valley took under its paw
– 101 people received hampers
– 22 families in need have been helped
– 18 boxes of additional food were donated to the local food bank
– Six Cochrane corporate sponsors joined the endeavour this year, which was appreciated more than words can even convey
– One outstanding Christmas gift from one amazingly caring school
It is nice to be able to go into the holiday season knowing that we’ve participated in something bigger than ourselves and that we helped bring the Christmas spirit to those who may not have had it otherwise. To its larger learning community we say: Happy Holidays and all the best in 2016! Let’s begin it the way we’ve strived to end it: with care for others and a helping hand and smile to foster connections that will generate the true meaning of giving to others and our world!
BVHS would like to send a great-big thank you to the community sponsors who gave generously to this year’s Helping Hampers campaign: Kingsmith Homes, Cochrane Tire, Spray Lakes Sawmills, The Rustic Olive, Save-on Foods, Second to None Meats, and Hunter Wood Technologies ~ thank you! Anyone who has been inadvertently missed, please know you have our immense thanks!
