Teacher Kyla Smith remembers well what it was like to discover all her classroom resources were gone and she was going to have to start over.
The Grade 1 teacher and all of her colleagues from Arrowwood Community School lost everything in a fire at the school in April 2012. In the face of disaster, people from across Alberta and beyond stepped up to help.
Smith and her Grade 1 students from last year plan to pay back some of that goodwill to teachers and students at Holy Spirit Academy, a Catholic elementary school in High River, which was severely damaged by June’s flood waters.
In the final few days of last school year, her Grade 1 students produced original works of art and then sold them to friends and family who were attending the annual awards event on the last day of school. Smith said she sold the remaining art during the community’s annual sports day. June 29.
With a few leftover dollars from the class’s “ice cream fund,” built up over the course of last year through the saving of nickels, dimes and quarters, Smith’s class has $413 to contribute to the school in High River.
Smith will be sending the money to High River in hopes of helping them cover the list of items they likely haven't even realized they're missing yet.
“I hope it helps,” she says. “I know they’re just starting to get back, and I know from experience that you don’t really know what you need until you get back in.”