The entire student population of Clearbrook elementary poured into the hallways recently to watch an amazing feat of community service — and physics.
The Grade 5 students had gathered more than 600 boxes of breakfast cereal from the community, and meticulously lined them up like dominoes. The line stretched from one end of the school, down a small set of stairs, around a corner, where it branched off to travel down two more hallways.
The excitement built as the ‘dominoes’ were set into motion. The screams of joy grew louder and louder from the first tipped-over box to the very last.
The students had rallied together about a month ago to gather 1,000 boxes of cereal to help feed Abbotsford’s unhoused youth at the Cyrus Centre. And while they were just a little shy of their goal, the Cyrus Centre staff who came to pick up the donation were overwhelmed, emotionally and physically, with the enormous donation.
It took three vans to load up, all with the help of the students.
Note: Scroll below story to see more photos from the collection day
“I never thought I would cry over cereal,” said Melissa, Cyrus Centre’s Abbotsford director. She and the non-profit’s regional director Matt Loewen were there to gather the boxes and take them back to the centre, which offers housing and other supports for young people ages 12 to 24.
Cereal is such a common request for the kids who come through the centre, they said. And it’s a comfort, too.
“When I come into work, I come into a room full of kids probably a little bit older than you,” Loewen said to the students afterward. “One of the first things they ask me for is the sweet cereal. Probably not healthy, and the probably not the ones your parents want you to eat, but they love them and it’s a special gift for us.”
Johnson explained to the students that they are there for “kids that don’t have a safe place to stay, or do the common things that people do like shower and sleep and eat breakfast.”
“These boxes are going to last a long time,” she told them. “This is so special.”
The Grade 5s, and some Grade 4s, created posters and appealed to the school community for the cereal donations. They wrote letters to local grocery stores, and they even set up a collection point at a Sikh temple.
One of the teachers, Teresa Seo, underlined the students’ massive achievement to them, saying it affects not just their Clearbrook neighbourhood, but the larger community of Abbotsford.
“It’s something bigger, something greater,” she said to the students. “Pat yourselves on the back because you guys have worked hard.”
READ MORE: Kid Cupid: Young Abbotsford boy delivers love to the streets with Valentine’s Day bags
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