Spending money to make money

By Brooklynn Borys
This past December, Mme Esch's grade 8/9 socials students were given a challenging assignment. With $100 of her own money, Roxane gave each of her students $5. The idea behind the assignment was to literally "spend money, to make money,” and donate to a charity. Each student was given $5 to invest in an idea of their choice, hoping to make a return on that investment and then have a profit to donate to a charity, or a non-profit organization of their choice.
We were pleasantly surprised by some of the ideas that came up, such as knitting baby hats, baking and selling cookies and cupcakes, playing music etc. Each group donated to a different organization.
Brittany Larabie and Halle Soukoroff sold cookies at Extra Foods, and made $128 and are donating their funds to the Rocky Mountain Grizzly Centre. Simon Bernard and Easton Elia played Christmas songs on a portable piano on Second Avenue, making over $80 to donate to the Canadian Avalanche Association. Mckinley Richards and Gabrielle Runzer helped organize a dance show at the Fernie Arts Station, making $514, the proceeds being contributed to the Clearview Campaign, which is raising funds to bring a new digital mammography machine to the Elk Valley. Tessa Holmes and Andrea Byrne bought candy canes, and sold them for inflated prices to donate to the Women's Resource Centre, making $230. Eliza Hughes and Jessica Hutchinson made $215 by selling cupcakes for the Canadian Cancer Association. Brittany Poirier and Kimberley Huisman sold cookies and made $450 to donate to the Women’s Resource Centre. Linnea Uphill-Benishke and Tyler Bush made $218 by collecting loose change to the Cranbrook SPCA. Jodi Thompson and Megan Hammer spent their $5 on knitting and baking supplies, and knitted baby hats for the hospital, and baked cookies for the Tom Uphill Home. Liam Teetzel and Curtis Eldridge shovelled driveways, exchanged bottles, and collected loose change, making $160 to donate to Fernie Search and Rescue.
In total, our class of 20 made $1,828 and the proceeds are all going somewhere very deserving. From this assignment, we have learned that a little effort can go a long way, and with that, we can accomplish big things by working together. Good job grade 8/9 socials!