10,500 children participate in the Caring for Others School Project --
Centraide prepares a new cohort of volunteers for tomorrow
MONTREAL, May 7 /CNW Telbec/ - Caring for others makes you grow! That was
the lesson learned by 10,500 children at 260 primary schools who took part in
the 9th annual Caring for Others School Project. They were visited by a host
of volunteers and community workers from Centraide supported agencies who
spoke to them about their personal experience of caring for others. This vast
mobilization was organized by the 18 Centraides of Quebec and the community
agencies they support with the aim of awakening Grade 4 pupils to the values
of volunteering and community service.
In Montreal, about 1,000 children at 19 schools took part in the project.
The official launch was held at PROMIS, a community agency in Côte-des-Neiges,
where the young students participated in volunteer activities for the benefit
of newly arrived immigrants and met with teenage volunteers.
Studies show that childhood experience of volunteering increases the
likelihood of participating in volunteer work as an adult(*). With the Caring
for Others School Project, Centraide wants to give children the opportunity to
discover the pleasure of giving, without expecting or asking for anything in
return, in order to groom them as the volunteers of tomorrow. During the past
few weeks, participating students familiarized themselves with the community
movement and the role of volunteers by completing a booklet containing
exercises and learning games, watching a video clip on volunteering and
singing the "caring for others" theme song. Today's class visit by a volunteer
or community worker was the high point of the activity.
"We must develop children's confidence in their ability to make a
difference," said Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire, president and executive director
of Centraide of Greater Montreal. "The more we invest in kids during early
childhood, the greater their chances of growing into responsible and caring
individuals. That's why we introduce young children to the different ways of
helping others and to the pleasure of showing you care: one day, we hope to
reap what we have sown! We thank the teachers for supporting us by informing
their students about volunteering, and by welcoming to their classroom an
agency spokesperson who can provide the kids with a model of social
involvement."
About the Caring for Others School Project
------------------------------------------
The Caring for Others School Project is an initiative of the 18
Centraides of Quebec. The project aims to introduce children to the concept of
volunteering and to encourage them to help others, which is an important
element of socialization. Since its inception, this awareness activity has
reached about 127,000 young students throughout the province.
About Centraide
---------------
Everywhere in Quebec, the effects of poverty are the same: family
break-up, increased violence, health deterioration, developmental retardation
among children, distress, social exclusion, and so on. To help people who are
facing these problems, the 18 Centraides of Quebec conduct a vast annual
fundraising campaign. Thanks to the generosity and involvement of 139,000
volunteers and hundreds of thousands of donors, they are able to support over
1,500 community agencies and projects that help more than 1.3 million people.
Centraide has the rare ability to mobilize a prodigious number of volunteers
and donors from every sector of Quebec society.
About PROMIS
------------
PROMIS is a community agency that has been supported by Centraide of
Greater Montreal since 1993. Its vocation is to facilitate the social
integration of newly arrived immigrants in the Côte-des-Neiges district and to
help immigrants settle in the various regions of Quebec. The agency's main
activities include listening, information, orientation and referral,
adaptation to Quebec culture, continuing education, training for civic
participation, pairing, translation and interpretation, affordable housing
search and French language courses. It also offers a drop-in centre, academic
support, home visits, collective kitchens, buying groups, day camps,
socio-cultural activities, and job entry assistance. PROMIS is supported in
its mission by over 300 volunteers.
(*)Source: Canadian Centre for Philanthropy et al., "Caring Canadians,
Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 2000 National Survey of Giving,
Volunteering and Participating", August 2001.
For further information: Annick Gagnon, Centraide of Greater Montreal,
(514) 288-1261, ext. 242
