Supporting communities in need
The St. Thomas Aquinas High School Service Team is fundraising for their annual trip to Guatemala, to assist local communities. Pictured from the left, Organizer Amanda Forde, Amelie Buma, Jayda Sperotto, Rachel Wood, Beatrice Gregoire-Toutan, Adelle Johnson, Myah Bekkers, Abbie-Rose Forde and student support worker Christine Bourdon. Courtesy photo

RUSSELL – Every year, St. Thomas Aquinas High School’s Service Team has an opportunity to travel to Guatemala; the trip serves as an opportunity to help contribute to the local communities with a number of different activities for the volunteers.

“One day we can go to the community and build a road and then we can go down to another community to paint some houses or create a playground for students,” said Christine Bourdon, St. Thomas Aquinas High School’s student support worker. “So, when we go down there, we are basically doing whatever the community needs us to do.”

Unfortunately, this is not an inexpensive excursion for the six students signed up for the trip. The cost per person is approximately $2,600, covering transportation, living quarters and other essentials. So, in order to send everyone to Guatemala, the STA High School Service Team needs to fundraise to assist with the costs, including an exciting trivia night held Sat., Nov. 9, which attracted a total of 240 participants and raised an impressive total of $6,400 toward their trip.

“We’ve also been doing bake sales, anything possible to get the name out there and get donations,” said Bourdon. “We’ve been fundraising since September… the students are asked to give a little bit of their own money but then we try to fundraise the rest including the stone, the sand and anything else we need to actually work.”

According to Bourdon, the students believe that they will give more than they receive during their trip, but in actuality, the students will gain a lot of enlightenment and pride for the work they will accomplish.

“Here we always want stuff, but over there, it’s what they need,” she said. “So, they come back with a lot of enlightenment.”