Fairview Community School is the home base for a regional project lift the spirits of the local homeless community this holiday season. (Christina Renneberg)

By Ian Holmes

compassion project

Everybody Deserves a Smile: Nanaimo students show homeless community they care

Dec 6, 2021 | 5:35 AM

NANAIMO — Students at a Nanaimo elementary school are taking ownership of a powerful project to show the homeless community they care.

Fairview Community School students are busy creating heartfelt care packages to be delivered to numerous Nanaimo social agencies to help vulnerable people get through the holiday season.

Fairview second grade teacher Christina Renneberg is coordinating Everybody Deserves a Smile locally, which she said is leading to teamwork and empathy.

“Everybody is totally invested and involved. On the playground kids are talking about the projects and their talking with their families at home. It’s a way to bring us all together which is pretty special.”

Renneberg said the initiative with help from other SD68 schools includes students making cards marked with touching messages of hope.

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“That card goes inside a bag with toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, hand sanitizer, homemade cookies, warm socks and a warm toque.”

The packages will be given to 13 downtown area social agencies later this month to then be handed to their clients.

Everybody Deserves a Smile is a significant undertaking with the intention of creating 600 necessity filled bags and homemade cards, Renneberg noted.

A card of hope from a Fairview Community School student (Christina Renneberg)

Fairview students are also discussing the needs of the homeless as part of regular classroom discussions coinciding with their busy project.

“They need a warm place to live, they need safety. A lot of them will say that they need love and caring, which is a beautiful thought,” Renneberg told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Cash donations are required to help cover the costs of the socks and toques.

Those with a few dollars to spare can e-transfer: edas.nanaimo@gmail.com

Everybody Deserves a Smile is a compassion project in its 18th year of operation and second straight year at Fairview Community School.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes