Indigenous Youth Bring Mission “Home”
SchoolBOX Picnic with Purpose on June 15 in support of First Nations Education - theHumm June 2019

Indigenous Youth Bring Mission “Home”
SchoolBOX Picnic with Purpose on June 15 in support of First Nations Education - theHumm June 2019

What do a Mississippi Mills picnic, a school in Nicaragua and a lunch program in the northern community of Wabauskang First Nation have in common?

SchoolBOX Story

Well, exciting times are afoot at SchoolBOX as the “little organization that could” ramps up operations in its next targeted country — Canada! You may know that what began with the simple gift of a notebook and pencil, quickly evolved to build libraries and classrooms in Nicaragua. SchoolBOX has constructed a total of 104 classrooms, created 81 libraries and delivered 623,465 notebooks to kids to date. But did you know that very first school completed in Nicaragua, back in 2008, was built with the help of two Wet’suwet’en First Nation cousins from BC, Danielle Wall and Nicole Ogen?

SchoolBOX North

Danielle’s empowering volunteer build experience sparked the idea for the Indigenous Youth Empowering Student Program (IYES). Developed by Sarah Kerr and Danielle Wall in 2009, the program invites First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth from Canada to help “make education possible” for kids. Youth research and share their cultures while on SchoolBOX builds, and then reflect on how they could use what they learned in Nicaragua to make a difference in their remote communities back home in northern Canada. Danielle, now Education Coordinator for her Wet’suwet’en First Nations Band, continues to lead IYES teams to Nicaragua as well as work to make education possible in her own home community.

Library to Lunches

It’s exciting to see the impact Indigenous youth volunteers, from communities in five provinces and territories, are now having at home with support from SchoolBOX. The Wabauskang First Nations Library, inaugurated as the newest First Nations library in Ontario in 2018, was created by IYES volunteer Terri Meekis after her trip to Nicaragua. She helped to construct a rural school and library on her build trip to that country, and yet her home reserve didn’t have either. She’s now an elected band councillor and is working with SchoolBOX to achieve her community’s vision for education at home. This June, a new Lunches for Learning Program is launching in Terri’s home community to help eliminate the education gap for students on reserve, only 49% of whom are graduating high school across the country.

Picnic with Purpose

To support the new lunch program, SchoolBOX is hosting its first Picnic with Purpose at the Cedar Hill School on Saturday, June 15. A twenty-dollar ticket gets you a delicious picnic lunch (full of culinary delights for people of all diets), while also providing a school lunch for a child on the Wabauskang First Nations reserve. Enjoy live music by talented locals, join in the great picnic games or bid on summer-themed treasures including a shiny new BBQ! Muskoka Brewery beer, Miss Mills Mimosas, and a popsicle stand run by our youngest volunteers will all be part of the family fun!

Making Education Possible

The power of SchoolBOX rests in the simple fact that we are united in our love for all children, and in our belief that education is the key to defeating poverty, wherever we find it. This means providing school supplies and books in Nicaragua, where only half of kids are getting to high school, as well as providing books and healthy lunches to kids on reserves in Canada where less than half of kids are finishing high school. The teams at SchoolBOX are so grateful for the kind support from this community in “making education possible” for tens of thousands of kids, by way of a simple notebook and pencil or a nourishing lunch. Thank you! Gracias! Miigwetch! Sne Kalyegh!

Picnic lunch baskets will be available by ticket or chance. Tickets (only 60 for sale) are available at Baker Bob’s, or online at SchoolBOX.ca . See you at the School House on Saturday, June 15 from 11:30am to 2:30pm. Please contact Sarah Kerr at 647–882–7484 or sarah@schoolbox.ca with any questions.

 

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SchoolBOX Picnic with Purpose on June 15 in support of First Nations Education
- theHumm June 2019

What do a Mississippi Mills picnic, a school in Nicaragua and a lunch program in the northern community of Wabauskang First Nation have in common?

SchoolBOX Story

......

...more

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