Children from across the Strathmore region have been pitching in this month and collecting soup for an initiative that will help local veterans. Soup 4 Soldiers is a project created by Emma Moore and Em’s Donation Projects.
Soup 4 Soldiers ran from November 2 to the 9th. On November 9 and 10th, schools in the area build their food towers that display the donations they have gathered. Anyone can donate a can of soup for the challenge, but we stopped in at Kathy Herriot’s Grade 2B class at Westmount Elementary School and spoke to Brett who told us how important it was to take part in the challenge, especially before Remembrance Day.
“Some soldiers don’t have food, and some need money,” he said. He explained that the challenge is an important to think about the actions of local veterans and service members around Remembrance Day.
Tami LeMoine from Ecole Brentwood Elementary School said "We were really proud of our students and what they’ve done.”
On November 10th kids at Ecole Brentwood Elementary School will be building their towers of support filled with food donations. Afterward the students will pack the donations into boxes to be picked up by Moore and taken to the Legion.
"It looks like a good amount,” said LeMoine, who explained they don’t yet know how many items the students collected for the challenge. “Most kids have brought at least one, or two cans.”
She explained that in the last few years they have not been able to host traditional Remembrance Day ceremonies because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When Emma proposed this last year as a way of showing our support, we thought it was perfect. She's a former Brentwood kid and we've worked with her before for some of her other projects and we knew that if she thought it was important, it was good for us to be involved as well” said LeMoine.
When asked what the students learned from taking part in the challenge LeMoine explained,“One of the best things is just how easy it is for kids to be helpful. Just one can of soup is all it took. It's affordable, it's easy and a lot of them don't think about other people being hungry and suddenly it brought up a lot of interesting conversations about, ‘well sometimes I'm hungry or sometimes my friend is’,’’ she said “It was good for them to know that there are other people out there.”
Moore explained that this is her second annual Soup 4 Soldiers challenge which includes donations from the community and schools from the Strathmore and Calgary region.
All non-perishable food items are accepted during the challenge.
More information about Soup 4 Soldiers can be found on the Em’s Donation Projects Facebook page.
Wed, May 8, 4:45 PM
