Salem kindergartners visit food bank, pizza shop

CENTRE WELLINGTON – Salem kindergartners have delivered cans to the food bank, made and decorated ice cream and baked goods, connected with their community and got a behind-the-scenes look at local restaurants and food stores.   

And it’s all thanks to a $500 experiential learning grant from the province.  

Kindergarten teacher Tessa Heffernan’s class at Salem Public School brought the semester to a close last week with visits to the Centre Wellington Food Bank, New Orleans Pizza, Hometown Hideout and the splash pad.  

Throughout the year the class has been baking in its classroom as well as at Geddes Street Market;  decorating cupcakes at the Wild Tart; and making ice cream with Elora Mill chef Dacha Markovic and at the Scoop Ice Cream in Elora. 

Heffernan said some of her favourite memories from the year are “preparing food at the back counter in the classroom that the class had all helped to measure, mix and prepare while the students were setting the table, washing dishes, counting plates, calling each other over to eat, sitting down and enjoying the food – just like a big busy family at a meal.” 

The students decided to make a donation to the food bank after reading Maddi’s Fridge by Lois Brandt, she said, and their interest in the story and the food bank served as a “powerful reminder of how even our littlest learners have deep empathy for others.” 

The students used their newfound baking skills to raise money for the food bank, baking over 200 items over a few weeks to freeze and sell at a bake sale at the school. 

The class raised over $300 with its bake sale, and then walked downtown to the Geddes Market where each student picked out an item to buy for the food bank, before counting and sorting the items and delivering them to the food bank. 

“It was the perfect way to put our baking skills to use to give back to the community as the end of our project,” Heffernan said. 

“We are so grateful to the community for being willing to partner with us for this project. It has been amazing as a teacher at a local school to get to know businesses in our backyard, to connect families more deeply to businesses, and to hear that students are going to these places and looking for the owners and employees that we have met along the way.”

She added, “Special thanks to Geddes Market, Scoop, the Elora Mill, the Wild Tart, New Orleans Pizza, Gerries Market and the Wellington Advertiser, who all offered to be involved in this project. 

“We hope to be able to continue these connections in upcoming years to offer future students lots of great learning opportunities connected to the community.”