Winnipeg teens raise $1,400 to feed Churchill students

A group of Winnipeg high school students have raised more than $1,400 and 400 kilograms of food to keep cupboards full at Churchill schools.

Students from Kelvin High School travel to Churchill every year to do research on polar bears with a professor from the University of Manitoba.

This year, spring flooding washed out the rail line, so the group had to travel by air.

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"We realized that for us, it was a small inconvenience, but for them, it can be a life-changing thing, so our students wanted to give something back to the town by doing this," said Donna Labun, a chemistry teacher at Kelvin High School.

The annual trip sends a small group of students to study polar bears, take photos from a tundra buggy and use the "whisker print program" to log bears' body mass to see if they've gained or lost weight.

Eventually, the data is presented at scientific conferences.

But the trip also has a community service component. Last year, students logged GPS co-ordinates of fire hydrants to help emergency crews.

This year, Grade 12 student Laia Shpeller reached out to the junior rangers in Churchill to see how they could help.

Shpeller said a hot breakfast program for students was in biggest need.

The program feeds 200 kids per day, but the cost of food has skyrocketed in the community now that food and other supplies have to be shipped or flown in rather than sent by railway.

The students knew they were alotted three 25-kilogram bags each on the flight, so they decided to pack light and use the rest of the space for food.

"We decided that we were going to do a toonie drive — go around class to class at school, explain the situation that was going on in Churchill, as many people don't know about it," said Shpeller.

The students raised $1,400 in three days, then loaded up on things such as milk, cereal, bacon, ham and sausage.

Two Nelson McIntyre Collegiate students who joined them on the trip brought more than 100 pounds of pancake mix.

"We brought up nine full coolers, 15 giant Canadian Tire boxes and some luggage full of food as well," said Shpeller. "I was really surprised, honestly. We do a lot of drives at shcool and people are constantly being asked for money … so I was worried if we did this, people would say, 'It's another drive.'"

Shpeller said she was blown away by how much people contributed.

"It was truly unbelievable," she said. "We were able to show them that it does matter and it is something that's important."

The students will return to Winnipeg this week.