Students at Powell River’s École Côte du Soleil raised money and showcased their culinary prowess for an injured classmate recently.
The school sold tickets to a special dinner to raise money for Anakin Fretts, a classmate who was severely injured in a September car accident.
Over $1,000 was raised through ticket sales, a silent auction of student arts and crafts and a 50/50 draw.
Esme Long is a grade seven student on the school’s health committee, the group of students responsible for putting the dinner together. “We’ve all known Anakin for a really long time,” said Esme. “We all just wanted to help out.”
The menu for the dinner Thursday, December 11, was a variety of tasty dishes including pita and hummus, lentil soup, Greek salad and a variety of kebabs and rice, followed by sweet and sticky baklava. Students tried to use organic ingredients when possible.
Nicolo Mazurek, another grade seven student and friend of Anakin, said his classmates found recipes and with the help of their teachers put the dishes together.
“It was fun to cook,” said Nicolo.
Yannick Mbuluku works for the Youth Francophone Council of British Columbia and he travels around to French communities to provide activities for youth to promote usage of French in the the province.
For the past two years Mbuluku has been working on the Health in Schools program which teaches students about healthy eating and lifestyles.
“We make small groups of kids in school so they can do activities that promote health,” said Mbuluku.
The dinner was the fourth and most engaging activity students at École Côte du Soleil have done so far with the program.
Alex Aumais teaches grade seven, eight and nine students at the school. “Everyone is really into helping out, even the grade nine students who don’t really know Anakin,” said Aumais. “We’ve always been a really community [-focused] school here.”
The two other students involved in the vehicle accident as well as the driver of the van have also been supported by the community in various ways in the aftermath of the crash, which happened just prior to school returning in September, Aumais said.
The junior high teacher added that everyone has been very happy about Anakin’s recent progress, regaining consciousness, and many stopped by BC Children’s Hospital, while Anakin was there, to visit.
