The mayor of a northern Alberta town devastated by wildfires last year spent the day saying thanks to a group of Nova Scotia students.
Sixty students at Digby Elementary School wrote letters and drew pictures to show their support for the people in Slave Lake after their town was destroyed in May 2011.
“You sent us something that lifted our spirits, touched our hearts,” says Slave Lake Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee.
When teacher Terry Gilbert heard about the fires in Slave Lake she came up with the idea to combine teaching literacy with teaching compassion.
“We are very, very concerned about our children having compassion and empathy for other children,” says Gilbert.
She asked her students to put their compassion on paper in the form of letters and pictures.
“If I were there, I would try and help and I tried to help with the letter,” says student Kylie Bremner.
“You have to appreciate what people feel like, because just think that what happened to you, so even though they’re far away, just pretend they were close,” says student Sarah Roache.
Teacher Ainsley Bravo was impressed by what she saw when she gathered the letters from her students.
“I remember, I just took them all and I sorted them all and said, ‘oh my God, this is amazing!’” says Bravo. “There were rainbows and even there was just letters that said ‘I wish I could go there and start helping’ you know and building you know, there was so much emotions.”
The letters and pictures were then scrapbooked and sent across the country to Slave Lake.
“Demonstrating some care to another community that’s lost, they lost most of their community, a billion dollars worth of damage, I think it really reflects well on the students today,” says Digby Mayor Ben Cleveland.
The Nova Scotia Emergency Measures Organization invited the mayor of Slave Lake to speak at a conference in Halifax.
Once she knew she was going to be in Nova Scotia, Pillay-Kinnee reached out to the town of Digby and asked to come see the students.
“I was at the conference and I said, ‘if I can get out to Digby to say thank you, that would just make our trip,’” says Pillay-Kinnee.
“I am just so impressed with a mayor that would just take her time and visit the children,” says Gilbert. “It says to me that she also has a place in her heart for children.”
Pillay-Kinnee says a third of Slave Lake was lost in the fire. Today, 80 per cent of the homes are rebuilt, but the healing continues. She says the students at Digby Elementary have encouraged the people in her community, helping them forge ahead.
“They’re part of our family now and I want them to feel that way because it’s pretty special.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster
