Thanks to the incredible generosity of the York Catholic District School Board community, we raised almost $39,000 during the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty fundraiser.
This money will be used by our Attendance Support Counsellors to remove financial barriers that keep students from attending school regularly. The inflation crisis caused financial distress to many York Region families and these funds will greatly assist them.
Media outlets, including The Catholic Register, The Auroran and 105.9 The Region, covered the fundraiser. Thank you to the students and staff who participated in those media interviews:
- From Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy: Principal Camille Robinson and students Lukes Ethan Luvithas, Deepta Yelamanchi and Arya Waza.
- From St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School: Principal Michelle Miranda and students Dabria Peta-Dragos and Jayden Mathanraj.
The need for this fundraiser was evident in the comments of Principal Miranda to The Auroran:
Research shows one of the reasons that students are not attending school is because of the impoverished state in which they find themselves living… Locally, I [think] people believe Aurora to be this very affluent community and I think, on the whole, many are and enjoy the wealth that we all do, but we have definitely seen more families asking for more support, even at the school level.
And in Principal Miranda’s comments to The Catholic Register:
The main thing is that we are doing the Christ-like thing by giving back and serving our brothers or sisters and our families who are in need. As Catholics and people of shared faith and values, we are called to be the hands and the feet of Christ in the world.
Thank you to all our students and staff for being the hands and feet of Christ through this fundraiser.