In an effort to teach their students about kindness and compassion, kindergarten teachers at Ladysmith Primary School (LPS) helped their students create compassion kits for Ladysmith’s most vulnerable population.
Each of the 60 LPS kindergarten students packed their own compassion kit, which will be distributed through the Ladysmith Resource Centre Association (LRCA) cold weather shelter. LPS kindergarten teacher, Pam Puska said that the project was a great way to teach the students about the difference between needs and wants.
“We always teach about needs versus wants in December, and learning the difference, and about compassion. So we thought, we’d do something to help the most vulnerable population in Ladysmith,” she said.
Local businesses donated basic supplies like toothpaste, hand sanitizer, soap, and shampoo; as well as gift cards to Tim Hortons, A&W, and McDonalds. RX Drug Mart I.D.A, Great Canadian Dollar Store, Ladysmith Dental, High Street Dental, and Microtel Inn & Suites gave LPS everything they needed to complete the kits.
“Ladysmith is such an awesome community. These businesses were super excited to be on board. It made us feel great that we had that community support,” Puska said.
LPS parents and students also donated a total of $928 for the LRCA Food Bank.
“I had one student come in who had collected donations from her family members, but her parent wrote me a note and said that she had specifically taken out $32.45 from her piggy bank to donate it from her self,” Puska said.
Once the kits were completed, the students were grinning from ear to ear, knowing they’d done a good deed.
“We took a picture of every kid after they completed their kit and they all had these giant smiles on their faces. They were so proud of what they’d done. We talked about that in our end of day chat — about being proud of ourselves for doing something good for somebody else, and how it makes our own hearts feel to do that,” Puska said.
And that compassion has started to spread inside the classroom on a day-to-day basis. Puska said that the kindergartners are more compassionate with each other, which makes for a more positive environment overall.
All of the compassion and kindness generated through the LPS kindergarten classes gives Puska great hope for the future.
“We’re raising good global citizens — kids that want to be involved, be part of their community, look for the greater good, and what they can do to help out.”
Puska said that the compassion kits will become an annual project at LPS.