Students at a Newton elementary school spent about a month making colourful bracelets and selling them with the plan to donate the proceeds to the Surrey Food Bank.
Students at Georges Vanier Elementary began making bracelets about four weeks ago when a few kids asked Aboriginal youth care worker Lori Buckton how to make elastic-band bracelets.
“I had to Google how it was made, and then I showed them how to make it and the next day, they came up to me — running up to me — (saying), ‘We sold our bracelets for $1 and we want to give some money to the homeless,’” Buckton said.
From there, Buckton said, she and the student figured out which charity to give the proceeds to — the Surrey Food Bank.
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“The kids just have their whole heart in this,” Buckton said.
“And ever since that, it’s just been one thing after another. We figured out how to organize making the bracelets, the kids are selling the bracelets out in front of the office,” she said.
The students raised more than $100 from bracelet sales.
Grade 5 students Alex Perez and Angad Kandola said it meant so much for them to be able to give back.
“It’s something that I wanted to do for a long time,” Kandola said.
The boys said they and a handful of other students would go around at lunch time with a tray of bracelets to sell.
Perez said the students made about 100 bracelets.
Thirty-six of those, Buckton said, were for teachers.
“When we first started this, we actually got 36 orders from the teachers for bracelets, so 36 of them were sold before we even started doing the craft circle.”
Buckton said when the craft circle began, there was just a table full of students in the library making the bracelets.
“One time they announced the craft circle, and I could hear almost like a stampede of students,” she said.
“I think I’m going to be finding little elastics for maybe about a year from now.”
In the new year, Buckton said, she plans to do another craft circle with the students to have them make one bracelet for themselves and one for a friend.
“It’s just kind of spreading that idea of support through the community, even with their own friends.”
lauren.collins@surreynowleader.com
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