Project's goal is to get 2,000 sports shirts
Jan 24, 2010 - 04:30 AM
By Crystal Crimi
DURHAM -- Caring about what others are wearing has become a big deal for a group of Whitby teenagers.
A group of girls, all seniors at All Saints Catholic Secondary School in Whitby, have turned a class project into a school-wide initiative titled Wear and Care. Students are collecting sports jerseys to send to children in the Dominican Republic and to local sports teams in need of financial assistance.
"Our goal was to provide children with the opportunity to start their own sports league," said Shannon Costello, a Grade 12 student and one of the project's organizers. As she spoke about the project, schoolmates periodically made their way into the classroom to add their jerseys to a growing pile.
In the first two days alone, the project collected 500 jerseys, some of which have been strung up high across the school's front atrium, displaying logos such as Tim Hortons, Scotiabank, Lone Star Texas Grill, and C and C Auto Exchange.
Their goal is to get 2,000 jerseys, which would be about one jersey per student at the school.
"I've personally brought in 300," said Celita Lowe, one of the project's organizers, and added they came as the result of an e-mail to her mom's soccer league. Celita has played sports for about nine years and collects three jerseys a year just on her own, as does Shannon.
"It's just amazing, we didn't know what to expect," Shannon said. "I've seen people coming in with garbage bags."
The All Saints team is sorting the shirts by colours so they can be used for teams, locally or in the Dominican Republic.
They decided to send the jerseys to Dominican because the school had a class trip there last year, with another planned in 2011.
The collection accepts any variety of jersey: soccer, hockey, lacrosse - they've even received some OHL and NHL shirts.
"It's kind of been like a constant cycle," said Colin Zarzour, a Grade 11 student who will be attending next year's trip to the Dominican. They'll be going to a town called Consuelo and taking as many as the jerseys possible with them - mostly those for soccer and basketball. A load is also going down this year with the Whitby Rotary Sunrise Club.
"You can imagine it's a big deal for these kids," Colin said.
Clothing is a big deal for kids in the Dominican and this project will allow them to show they're part of a team and that Canada cares about them, he added.
"I just can't wait to see the look on their faces," Colin said. "For them, it's going to be, wow, I have a jersey."
The trip is intended to provide All Saints students with a learning experience, Colin said. They'll be staying with a local family and trying to communicate, despite the language barrier, as well as visiting a plantation and learning about the culture.
Along with sending the jerseys to Dominican, the group also wants to give some to local sport teams or children in financial need on a team; they can contact the school for more information at 905-666-7753. Those wanting to donate jerseys can do so at All Saints during school hours.
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