Lac Seul First Nation kids donate to isolated students

An elementary school on the Lac Seul First Nation is spreading some Christmas cheer to more remote northern communities.

Each class from the school at Frenchman's Head is sending a hamper to the same grade in another community.

Lac Seul education director Jennifer Manitowabi said the parcels include board games, fixings for a turkey dinner, and other gifts donated by students.

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“One little gal in the Grade 1-2 class brought in a Barbie, and said, 'I want this to go to someone in that grade 1-2 class, where … they don't have as much,'” she said.

Communities receiving hampers include Wabigoon, North Spirit Lake and Pikangikum.

Each class chose a community and a same-grade class to which they could send a hamper.

"I think [the project] … taught them to appreciate what we do have, and that it's more important to give than it is necessarily to get things at Christmas time,” Manitowabi said. “We just tried to reinforce that point for them in the classroom."

It was also decided to keep the initiative a local one.

“We talked to the children about … these communities and how they're isolated, [and] how we're so lucky to be living very close to a town of Sioux Lookout,” she added. “They don't have that opportunity to just run to the store.”

Students and teachers decided to “send Christmas cheer, in whatever we could collect, up to some of our neighbouring schools."

Grade 5 student Jayden Littledeer said it was a nice thing to do at this time of year … “just to make the other kids feel better."

Littledeer said she'd like to do it again.