On Thursday, February 20, during Spirit of Service Week, US students put our hearts and hands into helping those in need. We ventured out in the snow to downtown Toronto to participate in two service projects for St. Basil’s Out of the Cold Program on the University of Toronto campus. The project was led by Nicole Ferrante, Campus Ministry Coordinator at the University of St. Michael’s College, and Emily Hospedales, Student Leader from the University of Toronto.
During this event, two groups of our students, one at St. Basil’s and one at the nearby women’s residence of Kintore College, had the opportunity to make sandwiches, bake cookies, make popcorn, package chocolate and snacks decoratively, and make cards with messages of care. As we worked throughout the morning, we learned about food insecurity, homelessness, and poverty. We delivered the gift packages and cards in person to St. Basil’s Out of the Cold Program at 50 St. Joseph Street during their lunch service.
Our group had worked up quite an appetite by noon, so we walked over to campus favourite Ned’s Café to enjoy lunch and get a taste of university life. Once everyone was warmed up and well-fuelled for an active afternoon, Maria Salonga (Hawthorn Alumna, 3rd year UofT Engineering Science student, and sister to Martha, class of ’27) gave us a student’s perspective tour of the university campus. Some of us went to Tim Horton’s for one last hot drink before hopping on the subway to return to Hawthorn.
A special thank you goes to Kieona George and her team at Läderach Chocolatier Suisse for the generous donation of chocolates for our packages. Thank you also to our supervisors, Ms. Kotamraju, Dr. Helmers, and Miss Yu, and everyone at St. Basil’s and Kintore College. This was a wonderful chance for everyone to work together to bring joy to the less fortunate in our community.